Youth justice service
Youth Justice Services (YJS) covers the whole of the county of Cheshire, across the four local authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Halton, and Warrington. Our goal is to work with children and young people aged 10-17 and help prevent them from getting into further trouble. We want to help young people to lead a life free from crime and help to reduce crime in the local area.
YJS is a statutory partnership and our team comprises a number of specialties such as police, probation service, children’s social care, health, education, and other services such as substance misuse, mental health, and housing. Due to this, we have a holistic approach to working with young people.
What does the YJS do?
YJS assesses the needs of each young person referred to us, using a tool made by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales to spot the issues that make the young person offend. This tool also measures the risk they pose to others as well as their vulnerability. YJS also manage court orders issued to young people. The young person will be required to attend regular meetings with their supervising officer which will focus on their offending and factors that may reduce the likelihood of further reoffending. Referrals to other agencies will be made where appropriate.
We will seek to help the harmed persons of young offenders in efforts to repair the harm caused. Restorative Justice may involve an activity or direct action from the young person to the harmed persons or indirect via a go between. Sometimes it is preferable that the offender meets the harmed persons and makes a personal and direct apology for the harm caused. We also offer opportunities for indirect reparation where young people are able to put back into their community through one of our reparation projects.
Volunteering opportunities
We have a large team of volunteers who support our work and you can apply to be a YJS volunteer for a minimum of three hours a week. In order to be one of our volunteers, you must live or work in Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Halton, or Warrington.
Volunteering opportunities are always changing within the team and at present the following roles are available:
The panels involve local community volunteers working with young offenders, their parents, and the victims. Panel members will talk and listen to these key people and agree with the young person a plan of action that is designed to repair the harm done and prevent further offending. This normally needs three hours a fortnight of your time.
Volunteers will undertake a range of tasks to support a young person to take part in their statutory court order. This can include helping them to attend solo and group work sessions; helping young people to get to external appointments or interviews and helping with transport. There are some young people who would benefit from a “long term” Mentor, which can offer support from the same volunteer over the period of their order.
This involves working with young people in the community who are undertaking various forms of ‘payback’ for the damage they have caused. These range from painting and decorating, graffiti clearance and regeneration schemes.
We recruit in September each year and train in October and/or November. All voluntary posts are subject to a Vetting and Barring Disclosure Check (DBS) and you must be 18 years of age or over.
Each volunteer will have a formal interview and if successful, full training and induction are provided. Potential volunteers need to attend the mandatory training which tends to run at weekends. In addition, there are quarterly team meetings for volunteers and a newsletter. Travel expenses are also provided.
- Phone: 0345 145 0055
- West office: second floor, Wyvern House, The Drumber, Winsford CW7 1AH
- East office: seventh floor, Delamere House, Delamere Street, Crewe CW1 2JZ
- North office: third floor, Municipal Building, Kingsway, Widnes WA8 7QF