What We Do

The AYM (Association of Youth Offending Team Managers) is funded by Members’ subscriptions and lead by a voluntary elected executive that represents 96% of Youth Offending Teams across England.

Utilising a voluntary elected executive, the Association is a trusted stakeholder to government policy, research and innovation leads. By driving change through experience and representing perspective of children, families and victims, we will push for investment, in furthering the effectiveness of the youth justice system.

Youth Justice SEND Quality Award

Leadership and Management Training

The John Hawkins Award

Youth Justice Sector Improvement Partnership

Our Values: Where We Stand

  1. We believe that the age of criminal responsibility should be no lower than 14 years.
  2. We believe that the four tenets of the child-first framework, as set out in research, should be embedded across all systems that work with children.
  3. We support the principles of multi-agency, joined up support to help children and families who are in need of help.
  4. We are committed to reducing racial disparity in youth justice and promoting fair and inclusive treatment for all.
  5. We believe that all children entering the youth justice system should be assumed to have special educational needs including speech and language and communication difficulties unless a full assessment proves otherwise.
  6. We are committed to helping ensure all children receive their full statutory entitlement to an appropriate education.
  7. We want fewer children to become involved with the criminal justice system or victims of exploitation because their needs are being met during their formative years through meaningful interventions and assessments.
  8. We believe that children should not be held in young offender institutions but in smaller, more local establishments which focus on education.
  9. We believe that the responsibility for commissioning and oversight of secure accommodation should not sit with the Prison Service.
  10. We are committed to reducing the number of people who become victims of offences committed by children and to increasing the use of restorative justice within youth justice.
  11. We are passionate about the work of youth justice services and are committed to promoting their successes in order to inspire public confidence.
  12. We are committed to ensuring our work is informed by organisations which capture the opinions of children and to advocating for children within the youth justice system to ensure that their needs, including needs that arise from neurodivergence, are identified and met.
  13. We believe the YOT Manager or service head for youth justice has a key strategic role in facilitating and encouraging multi-agency working at a local level and should be equipped with substantial youth justice experience and positioned at a such a level within local structures that they can liaise directly with chief officers of partner agencies.
  14. We support and encourage research into effective practice in youth justice and the sharing of this to ensure delivery of the best services to children. By the sector, for the sector.
  15. We advocate for an appropriately funded and resourced youth justice system which includes multi-year funding and the avoidance of short-term funding settlements.