Essex County Council - Case Study
Essex County Council reduces the recording burden on its Youth Justice practitioners; creating time for them to engage with vulnerable young people.
Core+ Youth Justice module helps youth offending teams at Essex County Council make their communities safer.
Essex County Council strikes the right balance between recording information quickly and accurately reporting data to maintain a dynamic picture of its caseload. Whether it is the recording of offence and outcome detail, or assessment planning and intervention, Core+ makes accurate data recording easier, reduces duplications and saves time.
Meeting the needs of young people
When the Youth Justice Board announced the roll of its assessment framework AssetPlus in 2014, Essex County Council found its existing system had become incompatible. The Council soon went to market looking for a hosted service, which could meet the needs of its Youth Offending Teams.
The following year, the Council went live with Core+, a fully web-based, single database solution for Integrated Youth Support. The system’s Youth Justice module has been specifically designed for Youth Offending Teams to record all aspects of Youth Justice Case Management.
Simplified interface and streamlined reporting
Teams at Essex County Council have found the intuitive interface of Core+ much more user-friendly compared to the previous system. In addition, the Youth Justice module is highly customisable with multiple fields which can be added or removed, making training much faster. The user-friendly nature of the system allows users to very easily grasp how it operates. As a result, the Council has seen its need for training sessions halved.
The flexibility of Core+ allows local authorities to operate in the way they choose; Essex can now record data in further depth and dictate its own recording practices that suit its cohort.
Since using Core+, Essex County Council has been able to maintain accurate profiles of its young people, helping to create a dynamic picture of its caseload. The Youth Justice module has helped the Council’s Youth Offending Teams identify trends, determine effective prevention strategies and coordinate intervention activities.
Local authorities tend to think it’s easier to stick with the same supplier; because they are familiar, and they can avoid any migration headaches, but the easy option isn’t always the right one. For us, it has been a very beneficial move, and the support from their Youth Services team has been second to none.
The result
- Provides a hosted service – issues can be fixed with little to no disruption to the Council, and ongoing upgrades can be completed efficiently
- Meets the requirements of the YJB AssetPlus framework
- Creates efficient management of case information and workloads
- Delivers a highly customisable and user-friendly system – making the day-to-day more efficient, and reducing the amount of time spent on training new team members
- Produces real-time reporting, helping to identify trends and compare prevention strategies
Inspiring others
Core+ Youth Justice module is now live in 29 authorities across the UK, and is helping to save time and manage risk. Essex County Council’s Youth Services Teams now have more capacity to concentrate on its service delivery and care of vulnerable young people.
