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Support for Children / Young People with SEN Leaving Custody

Support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities released from custody.

All young people who are released from custody are subject to a period of supervision on licence by the Youth Offending Service (YOS).

In Liverpool, the Youth Offending Service is part of Targeted Services for Young People and has dedicated Education, Training and Employment (ETE) workers who liaise with custodial institutions.

The ETE workers, with support from the YOS Case Managers, are responsible for ensuring that full information concerning a young person’s educational needs is known when they initially go into custody.

All young people entering custody undergo an educational assessment of literacy and numeracy which may include a screening for special educational needs. The information from the ETE workers, together with the assessment, enables the custodial institution to develop an individual learning plan for each young person.

If a young person entering custody has an Education, Health and Care plan the local authority will liaise with the custodial institution to make sure that the provision in the plan is delivered as far as possible.

When planning a young person’s release from custody, ETE workers liaise with staff in the custodial institution and should receive a summary and handover report detailing progress in subject areas and outcomes achieved during custody. The ETE worker will share this report with the school/college/training provider that the young person returns to or will use it to support the young person to engage with appropriate education/training provision.

If a young person leaving custody has an Education, Health and Care Plan, the local authority, the ETE worker, the young person and their parent, together with the custodial institution should meet to review the young person’s needs to ensure appropriate provision is available on release.

The following services are located in the YOS and are available to support all young people who are subject to an order from the courts:

  • ETE workers
  • Offending behaviour provision
  • General health nurses
  • CAMHS specialist provision
  • Substance misuse workers
  • Activities based work
  • Mentoring