Manchester Youth Offending Service (YOS) is a multi agency team created under the Crime & Disorder Act 1998 to ‘prevent offending by Children & Young People’, which came into being on 1st April 2000. The core work of the YOS is providing services to young people in the 10 - 17 year age range who have come into contact with the Criminal Justice System or who are in danger of that involvement. The services provided are on a predominantly statutory basis. The Youth Offending Service in Manchester provides a full range of services for young people who are suspected or convicted of a criminal offence.
There are 154 Youth Offending Services/Teams across England and Wales, who are governed by the Youth Justice Board (YJB), an executive non-departmental public body whose 12 Board Members are appointed by the Home Secretary. All Youth Offending Services operate under National Standards set by the Home Office. Detailed information on Youth Offending Services can be found at www.yjb.gov.uk. The YOS must complete an annual plan which outlines the goals of the organisation and how these goals will be achieved. For the current version of Manchester YOS’s Youth Justice Plan, click here.
Manchester YOS covers the same geographical area as Manchester City Council (MCC) running from Blackley in the north of the City to Wythenshawe in the south of the City. The YOS is split into 6 Teams in sites spread across the city, of which three are locality-based teams (North, Central and South – corresponding to GMP Divisional Boundaries) and three are functional teams (Court, Interventions and Programmes Team and the Parenting and Prevention Team).
Each team is made up of staff from Children’s Services, Police, Probation and the Health Service. The range of agencies working together means that a holisitic approach is taken when looking at the needs of a young person, where the YOS undertakes interventions based on assessments of these needs, the risk and vulnerability of the young person and the risk the young person represents to the community.
The Head of Youth Offending Services reports to a Management Board made up of senior representatives from each of the partners in the multi-agency organisation. The YOS Board is chaired by the Deputy Chief Executive (Performance) of Manchester City Council, Steve Mycio. Other members of the Board are:
- Maureen Noble – Head of Crime and Disorder Unit, MCC
- Chief Superintendent David Anthony - GMP Divisional Commander, South Manchester Division
- Tim Kyle - District Manager, National Probation Service (Greater Manchester)
- Barry Gillespie – Public Health Consultant, Manchester Primary Care Trust
- Laureen Donnan – Assistant Director, Children’s Services, MCC
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