Staff struggling to care for young offenders

Staff are “struggling” to offer adequate care for young offenders at a privately-run secure training centre, an inspection report published today has found.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection’s first report on Oakhill Secure Training centre said it was “very concerned” that inexperienced workers were “stretched to capacity” due to understaffing.

The report found that staff numbers were “regularly below acceptable levels” at the Securicor-run centre in Milton Keynes which holds up to 80 young people.

The inspection that took place in May also raised concerns over the way child protection was managed at the centre, and found three possible child protection incidents that had not been referred to the local authority.

The report found that risk assessments on young people were “flawed and inconsistent,” and said the system for spotting potential self-harmers was “not robust”.

It said the majority of young people were not on programmes to help prevent them from re-offending, while achievement levels were “inadequate,” with learning taking place in “impoverished” conditions.

Report from www.csci.gov.uk