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Blackpool has seen an increase in the number of children remanded and sentenced to custody in the last quarter, while the number of first time entrants to the Youth Justice System remains higher than local and national averages.

A report to the council’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee says during the last quarter of 2022, the Youth Justice Service supported 75 children, of whom 85 per cent were boys.

The average age was 16 with 15 per cent being children living in care.

A ‘child first’ approach is taken in the town towards supporting young offenders, with intervention including working with families.

The average age of children taken into custody is 16

New initiatives include the use of speech and language therapists after it was found many children who are regularly offending suffer from poor communication skills.

Data shows in 2021/22 three quarters of children involved with the Blackpool Youth Justice Service had SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), speech, language or communication needs.

Now, following a link up with specialists at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, help is being given to children who are struggling with their communication skills while support workers have been trained in using a speech and language assessment tool.

The report adds: “The Youth Justice Executive Board recognise swift access to speech and language services are needed, however not always available.

“Following a meeting with the Blackpool Teaching Hospital provider in April 2022 , it was outlined that there was no provision for children with a targeted need and a 12 month wait for children with specialist need.”

It was felt action was required to ensure the needs of young offenders were met, leading to the Blackpool Youth Justice Service securing the provision of specialist support from Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.

Changes have also led to written documents being amended so they are more easily understood by children and young people.

Commenting on the impact of the changes, one team member said it had helped them “to identify strengths and areas where more support might be needed or where I need to adapt my practice such as not using ambiguous phrases, explain things in more detail, give more prompts/examples or writing things down rather than rely on memory.”

Rise in number of child arrests in Blackpool