Recommendation 131

In the first instance, we heard about the importance of “manageable caseloads”. 245 Kim Thornden-Edwards told us that a youth offending officer may be supervising “10 to 12 cases” at a time, whereas Justin Russell said that “the typical caseload for a Youth Offending Service case manager might be between six and 10 children”. 246 By comparison, the National Audit Office told us that, in the adult service: “many probation staff were managing more than 70 cases, against a suggested case load of 30 to 60” (see section starting at paragraph 199 on “staffing issues”). 247 Justin Russell, told us that the size of the caseload “has to make a difference to how much attention you can pay someone” and argued that “bringing caseloads down … has to be at the heart of how you improve performance” in the adult Probation Service. 248