Last December, CareWorks entered a multi-partner project led by the Youth Justice Board to develop the first phase of the Wiring Up Youth Justice Programme. This project is designed to improve the flow of information between Youth Offending Teams, the Youth Justice Board, Young Offenders Institutions (YOIs) and Local Authority secure accommodation establishments.

The development of the new functionality in CareWorks YOT has been completed and will be piloted in early June at South Tees Youth Offending Service and subsequently in three further North Eastern YOTs, Darlington, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees. User acceptance testing has now been completed by the Youth Justice Board. On 14 June South Tees YOT will be the first Youth Offending Service in England and Wales UK to implement this first phase of the Wiring Up Youth Justice Programme.

The upgraded CareWorks YOT will facilitate the secure transmission of electronic documentation such as pre-sentence reports (PSRs), Core Assets, Risk of Serious Harm (ROSH) and Placement Alerts forms across the criminal justice exchange. It will also make it simpler for YOTs to provide agreed performance information to the Youth Justice Board. In a third work stream, using CareWorks single data entry module, significant aspects of the PSR will be pre-populated using information captured in the relevant Core Asset Assessment.

The overall aim of the Wiring Up Youth Justice initiative is to inform and improve planning and outcomes for young people by providing timely and accurate information, in a secure manner, to those who need it, when they need it.

For up-to-date information on the Wiring Up Youth Justice Programme, please visit their web site at www.wiringupyouthjustice.info