You have been referred to the Youth Offending Team because you have received or are being considered for an “Out Of Court Disposal” (such as a Caution), a court report has been requested or you have become subject to a court order. 

The Youth Offending Team includes people from the police, probation, health, education, social services and others.  We will hold records about you on a computer. 

You have rights in respect of these records – please see the privacy notice for more details.

We have a legal obligation under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to carry out our duties properly and we have to talk to and exchange information about you with other people and agencies while we are involved with you. 

This is to ensure the assessments we make are as relevant and accurate as possible, and to make sure the programme offered to you helps prevent further offending. 

Who we share information with

• your parents, unless you are 16 or over and not in contact with them
• your school, in case you are having difficulties there
• the Education Department to check your attendance and any other involvement they have - for example if you have any special educational needs or disability
• Children’s Social Care, to ensure that we work together if you already have a social worker or if you become involved with them
• other Local Authority services for children
• Strengthening Families Programme
• careers or connexions workers involved in helping you in education, training or employment
• Speech and Language Therapy
• other services you may be involved with in the past or if you become involved with them during the time we are working with you, such as Substance Misuse Services, (and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services if working with them forms part of your programme)
• your reparation placement or unpaid work provider if you are going to do community based reparation or unpaid work as part of your programme
• other Youth Offending Teams if you move out of the area
• the police if you are on an Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme
• other agencies responsible for taking action against anti-social behaviour, or for protecting the public if there is serious concern about your behaviour in the community
• the secure estate if you are sentenced or remanded in custody or secure accommodation at any stage
• the National Probation Service if your order is to be transferred to them, when you become 18
• health workers - including, School Nursing and GPs (this information would be recorded on your community health records) and Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• housing and housing providers if accommodation problems are contributing to your behaviour

Information is retained until you reach the age of 20 years when it will deleted (unless you committed a serious crime and/or were sentenced to a penalty lasting more than 3 years – in which case it may be retained for longer; this decision is reviewed annually).

If there are other people or organisations you think we should talk to you can give us specific consent on a form that the YOT worker can provide.

Information shared will be related to helping you in ways that will reduce the risk of you offending again and to improve your quality of life.  Your information will be stored securely and only made available to those who need to know for the purposes set out above and only as much information as is necessary to carry out our duties legally and properly will be shared with any individual or organisation.

There is no automated data processing undertaken. 

Types of information usually held 

• full name
• any alternative names/aliases
• age/date of birth
• address (including previous addresses)
• ethnicity (as defined by the individual)
• schools and colleges attended
• details of employment
• details of current and previous offences
• details of current and previous disposals (i.e. reprimands, Final Warnings and Convictions)
• details of current and previous assessments (including risk assessments)
• details of current and previous programmes of intervention (including response to previous programmes)
• details of any relevant services currently or previously involved with
• current and past legal status if you have been looked after by a local authority
• relevant health information essential for the safe conduct of assessment and delivery of interventions

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how your information has been collected and/or used, you can make a complaint to the Data Protection Officer.  You can also report concerns to the national regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office.  Their details can found on their website.