A South London Youth Justice Service which supports young people who have come into contact with the criminal justice system has gone from requiring improvement in 2019 to rated ‘Good’ following a recent inspection.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation rated Lambeth Council’s Youth Justice Service (YJS) ‘Good’ following an inspection in October 2025.
Inspectors were looking at the quality of work done with children working with the YJS as well as the quality of work done with victims, and praised practitioners for working alongside children and ensuring their opinions and voices were heard.
In a report published on Tuesday (January 13), inspectors said children’s lived experiences and their diversity needs were understood, and the planning and delivery to keep children and the community safe was also “consistently strong”.
Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones, said: “We found strong work to achieve positive change for children across assessing, planning, and delivery. YJS staff and managers were committed and motivated to achieving positive change for children and families, and practitioners and partnership staff knew their children and families well.
“Practitioners had a depth of understanding of how trauma impacted upon children’s emotional well-being and ensured they adopted a trauma-informed approach. It was positive to see the prioritisation of building trusting relationships with children as part of the planning process.”
Mr Jones added: “Partnership working was a strength. Practitioners knew what services were required to support children’s range of needs and utilised these well. There was clear evidence of practitioners offering children access to positive activities, alongside delivering targeted interventions addressing attitudes and interactions.
“Planning and the delivery of interventions were aligned and well-coordinated across the partnership, and we found that staff from all agencies were proactive in engaging children and their families.”
For its work with children, inspectors rated two key areas known as Planning and the Implementation and delivery as ‘Outstanding’ while a third area which focuses on Assessing as ‘Good’.
Inspectors rated the service’s work with victims as ‘Requires improvement’, and said further strategic and operational support was needed to ensure victims had a high profile in the service and their needs and wishes were considered consistently by all staff across the organisation.
Following the publication of the report, inspectors have made four recommendations which are for the Lambeth Youth Justice Partnership Board as well as the YJS to strengthen assessing to ensure consistent and high-quality activity to keep children and communities safe.
The YJS has gone from being rated ‘Inadequate’ in 2015, to ‘Requiring improvement’ in 2019 to ‘Good’ in 2026.
Cllr Dr Mahamed Hashi, Lambeth Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: “As someone who has been a youth worker in Lambeth for more than 20 years I know the value of strong interventions at what is a crucial point in these young people’s lives. Good support, and good council services, can really change a young person’s life by putting them of the right path for a positive future.
“So I’m pleased to see that the expert government inspectors have praised our work, and also provided advice on how we can be even better in the future. Lambeth is committed to being one of the safest boroughs in London, and good services like this are helping us make that happen.”
