Recommendation 132

Besides caseloads, Justin Russell told us that the Youth Offending Services have “very stable staff groups, very low vacancy rates”, and “staff remaining in post for long periods of time”, including senior members of staff being in post since YOSs were first set up in 2001. 249 By contrast, we were told that “the impact of Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) has been disastrous for the retention of staff and experienced staff”, because “the impact of experienced staff leaving at the point of TR and unification means that the workforce is skewed towards less experienced staff” (see Box 4 and section starting at paragraph 199 on “staffing issues”). 250