Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children and Young People is attached.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children and Young People introduced the report to bring youth justice service back into Bury whilst achieving better outcomes for children and young people 

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Approved the establishment of a standalone Bury Youth Justice Service. With a target go-live date of 1 September 2026, subject to discussion and agreement with Rochdale Brough Council. 

2.    Approved the termination of the current Youth Justice Collaborative Agreement dated 12 th November 2015 with Rochdale Borough Council. 

3.    Authorise officers to identify and secure an appropriate local venue within Bury from which the Youth Justice Service will operate. 

4.    Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Children’s Services, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, to take all necessary steps to implement the new service arrangement, including any TUPE transfer of staff, whilst ensuring compliance with Youth Justice Board requirements and inspection expectations. 

5.    Consider the proposal in line the wider Families First Partnership reforms, and the development of a targeted adolescent service which is outlined below. 

Reasons for decisions: 

The recommendation is driven by the need to ensure that Bury’s Youth Justice provision is fully aligned with national expectations, including the Youth Justice Board’s child-first, trauma informed approach and the focus on prevention, diversion, and reducing reoffending. 

Establishing a local service will enable stronger oversight of quality and performance, improved partnership engagement, and greater responsiveness to the specific needs and profiles of Bury’s children and young people. Delivering our own Youth Justice Service will provide us with a greater opportunity to develop the service tailored to local demographics and priorities supported by the ability to make decisions locally.

The original agreement was put in place to achieve economies of scale with shared staffing and management, training, case management tools, and the input of specialist services which would have been less affordable if Bury had delivered the service alone. 

In addition, working in partnership with Rochdale Council was considered to be beneficial due to joint governance arrangements with Police, Health and Education driving service improvement and performance leading to improved outcomes for young people. 

Both Bury and Rochdale Children’s Services now consider it to be in the best interests of both Local Authority areas to separate and deliver local Youth Justice Services.

If agreed we would take the opportunity to redesign the service under one Directorate ensuring effective use of resources aligned to local services around our wider adolescent offer for example Youth Service, Prevention, Keeping Families Together, and Complex Safeguarding ensuring a more tightly joined up approach and greater impact.

Alternative options considered and rejected: 

•               Option 1: Continue the partnership arrangement with Rochdale Council. This option was rejected due to limited local control, reduced visibility of performance, and challenges in ensuring services are delivered close to where Bury young people live. 

•               Option 2: Enter a partnership with another local authority. This option was rejected as it would continue to create dependency on external governance arrangements and would not fully support the integration of youth justice with Bury’s wider children’s services. 

•               Option 3: Commission the service from an external provider. This option was rejected due to higher costs, potential instability, and reduced direct accountability to the Council and statutory partners.