Inspectors scored Medway's Youth Justice Service 6 out of 12: assessing and victim work require improvement, planning and delivery are good.

Medway’s Youth Justice Service has been rated “Requires improvement” by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, which scored the service 6 out of 12 in the first inspection of it under the inspectorate’s new framework. The report, published on 4 August, rates the service’s planning and delivery of work with children as good, but finds that both its assessing practice and its work with victims require improvement (HMIP, An inspection of youth justice work with children and victims in Medway).

The Youth Justice Service is the multi-agency team that works with 10 to 17 year olds who have committed an offence. Inspectors carried out fieldwork over a week from 18 May 2026, looking at cases the service had started between 19 May 2025 and 20 March 2026.

What the inspectors found

The report is far from all negative. “Practitioners in Medway YJS were aspirational for children,” it says, describing staff as committed and skilful at engaging children and families, quickly building meaningful and trusting relationships. Plans were often co-produced with the children themselves, caseloads were manageable, and the service invested in training. The inspectorate’s own press release headline calls it “evidence of promising practice”.

The two weak areas pull the overall rating down. On assessing: “The quality of assessing practice required strengthening, particularly in understanding how to keep children and the community safe.” Inspectors found that in some cases information from Kent Police was redacted more than it needed to be, so assessments lacked the depth to fully understand safety concerns or the identity of potential victims. On the second weak area the report is blunt: “Work with victims was inconsistent and underdeveloped.”

Chart of the HMIP inspection ratings for Medway Youth Justice Service, August 2026: overall score 6 out of 12, rated requires improvement. Assessing requires improvement, planning good, delivery good, work with victims requires improvement. 12 recommendations made.
Graphic by Medway Live.

The education gap

One number in the report stands out for families: 42 per cent of the children over 16 that the service works with were not in education, training or employment when the inspection was announced. At the point of inspection, 39 per cent of the service’s children were in full-time mainstream education, 11 per cent were excluded and 22 per cent were electively home educated.

The report notes the service does not have a dedicated education, training and employment worker, but that funding for the post has now been agreed. Ensuring children can access education, training and employment appropriate to their age and needs is one of the 12 recommendations the inspectorate makes, alongside embedding consistent victim safety practice and improving the flow of information between Kent Police and the service (Medway Council, 4 August 2026).

The council’s response

Cllr Adam Price, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, said: “We accept and acknowledge the findings from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s report, and remain firmly committed to continuing to strengthen the support that young people who have offended, and their victims, receive from the relevant agency.”

He added: “Every single child matters in Medway, and we will use the feedback from HMIP to guide the improvements that are already underway within the Youth Justice Service.”

The council points out that inspectors recognised improvement activity and increased investment since the last inspection, that leadership has been strengthened with additional management, and that a dedicated victim worker has recently been appointed.

What it means for you

If your child is working with the Youth Justice Service, the inspection says the day-to-day work, the planning and the relationships practitioners build, is good; the gaps are in how thoroughly risks are assessed at the start and in post-16 education. If you are the victim of a crime committed by a young person, the report found initial contact with victims was strong but that support after that was patchy; a new dedicated victim worker is now in post.

The full report, including all 12 recommendations and the data behind the ratings, is free to read on the inspectorate’s website. The council has said it will use the recommendations to guide improvements already under way; when its formal improvement actions come before a committee, the papers will appear on the council’s meetings pages, and we will report what changes.