Tower Hamlets and the City of London Youth Justice Service awarded the Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead Status with Child First Commendation

Tower Hamlets and the City of London Area Partnership have been awarded the Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead Status with a Child First Commendation. This title has been awarded by Microlink and the AYM (Association of Youth Offending Team Managers) - a professional group that ensures better outcomes for children with SEND in the youth justice system. 

This award showcases the outstanding collaborative work between the council’s SEND team and Youth Justice Service (YJS). Key achievements from this partnership include:

• Extra provisions including co-located Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Psychologist and the YJS dedicated Nurse have played a role in offering: Additional screening, diagnostic support and child-centred interventions, upskilling frontline staff through training, joint problem-solving, case formulation processes and ad hoc support
• 95% of staff completed the UNITAS Child First training resulting in the Youth Justice Service’s being fully aware of the Child First vision and how to deliver better services to children
• Supporting children beyond statutory age-related service has enabled the council to secure the best possible Education Training and Employment outcomes for the most vulnerable children
• Service leaders have delivered excellent information exchange, tracking and support in and out of custody with named points of contact for our most vulnerable children

Special mention was also given to the Break the Cycle team, the YJS’s joint decision-making panel, and the Virtual School.

Lutfur Rahman, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said: 

“It gives us great pleasure to announce that Youth Justice Service for Tower Hamlets and City of London, along with their wider Area Partnership have achieved the Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead Award with a Child First Commendation.

“This work is vital to the council, as it enables us to support our young people and make a real positive impact upon their lives.” 

Cllr Maium Talukdar, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education, Youth and Lifelong Learning, said:  

“A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone who has been involved in the Tower Hamlets and City of London Area Partnership.

“The partnership demonstrates the significant and sustained progress in every area of the council’s Youth Justice SEND Quality Assurance Framework.”