A DAMNING report by government inspectors has rated Surrey’s youth offending service “inadequate”.

HM Inspectorate of Probation reported the service lacked “understanding about the profile of offending in the county” and in many cases “did not effectively promote the safety of other people”.

Although Surrey’s youth reoffending rate of 40.5 per cent is in line with the national average, the rating relegates the service to steer offenders away from a life of crime in the bottom 10 per cent.

Inspectors disagreed with staff’s risk assessments in more than a third of cases, with inspectors finding that “consideration was not given to how risk would be reduced and managed to keep other people safe”.

The service is provided by Surrey County Council in partnership with Surrey Police, the NHS and the Probation Service.

In a statement issued after publication on August 22, Surrey County Council said it accepted the findings of the report and recognised the need for improvement.

An action plan has been put into place and work is under way to address the issues highlighted.

Responding, Surrey’s cabinet member for children, Councillor Mary Lewis said: “This is not good enough for children and young people in Surrey and Surrey County Council and I take this judgement very seriously.“

The action plan includes creating targeted youth support teams and safeguarding adolescent teams.

Managers and staff will now use the same assessment tool as other youth offending teams to ensure risks to the public and safeguarding risks faced are more consistently assessed.

A high risk panel has been introduced to manage young people who present a risk to others or whose safety and wellbeing is at risk.

All youth justice cases are now allocated to to staff with skills and experience, supervised by team managers.