Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) were introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and were established in England and Wales in April 2000. They have primary responsibility for the provision of local youth justice services with the aim of preventing offending and re-offending by children and young people.

Medway YOT brings together the staff and wider resources of a range of local partner agencies, principally Children’s social services, education, the police, probation service and health. The rationale for this multi-disciplinary approach is that the underlying predisposing factors which cause offending behavior can be addressed speedily and effectively.

The work of YOT is guided by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) which is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice but with important input also from the Department of Education. The work of the YOT is overseen by the Medway YOT Management Board, which is currently chaired by Neil Davies, the Chief Executive of Medway Council, and comprises senior representatives of the five key statutory agencies – Social Services; Education; Probation; Police and Health, as well as the YOT Manager. In addition a range of other agencies are also represented, including the Connexions service, Housing, Medway Equalities council and Cookham Wood Young Offender Institute.

The Management Board meets on a quarterly basis to provide the governance arrangements for the YOT and has corporate ownership for preventing youth offending. The Management Board is also responsible for ensuring the delivery of the Youth Justice Plan and ensuring that the YOT is adequately resourced and funded. The YOT is funded from a number of different sources including Medway Council, The Ministry of Justice and our partner agencies.

The principal work of the team is to work with young people who have received convictions at either the Youth or Crown Court. The YOT is responsible for the assessment of young people and preparing reports for the courts. Post court the YOT manages their risk and vulnerability, whist delivering programmes to ensure that they comply with the orders given to them by the courts, either in the community or in custody.

Preventative work is carried out by an Integrated Prevention Team, allied to but separate to the YOT, comprising youth justice prevention workers, Intensive Family workers and Targeted Youth Support Workers. This team is currently leading on a point of arrest diversion pilot, which was recently awarded to Medway.

The YOT is located at 67 Balfour Road, Chatham. There are currently around 50 staff in the service both full and part time. In addition there is a seconded team of twelve staff located within Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institute, who are responsible for carrying out a range of resettlement functions. The work of the YOT is also supported by around 30 trained volunteers who sit on Referral Order Panels.