YJB responds to children in custody report, 2025 to 2026
The Youth Justice Board's (YJB) response to HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ latest review of survey responses from children in custody.
Steph Roberts-Bibby
On 22 September, HM Inspectorate of Prisons published its analysis of 12–18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences in custody.
Steph Roberts-Bibby, Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board, said:
Every child in custody should be safe, supported to learn and given the opportunity to build a positive future. The persistent challenges highlighted by HM Inspectorate of Prisons show that, despite significant investment and historically low numbers of children in custody, we remain too far from consistently achieving that.
There are important lessons from the progress made across the wider youth justice system that can be applied to children in custody. A clear approach informed by the Child First evidence base has provided a unifying framework for police, youth justice services and the judiciary, in helping to shift the system towards prevention, diversion and approaches that recognise children’s strengths, needs, vulnerabilities and potential. This is what works to prevent offending and reduce reoffending.
Youth custody has yet to benefit from the same consistently applied, evidence-based model for working with children. We believe establishing that clarity of purpose and translating it into the everyday experience of children and staff will be critical to achieving sustained improvement.
We also need to continue reducing the number of children entering custody where safe and appropriate alternatives exist. The London Accommodation Pathfinder demonstrates what can be achieved by doing things differently. Its latest independent evaluation provides promising early evidence that treating children as children, diverting them from stigma associated with young offender institutions, and supporting them to build positive social identities can be achieved through community-based alternative to custody. We champion this model to deliver better outcomes for children, reduce reoffending and the number of victims and provide better value for the public purse. As a result, we very much welcome the government’s investment in alternatives to custody.
The evidence shows us that the current secure estate is not fit for purpose: Poor outcomes are systemic, not simply isolated operational failures. Large, prison-like institutions, staffing pressures and restricted regimes are limiting safety and rehabilitation. What is required is a clear, time-bound transition towards smaller, child-centred provision - with a specialist and stable workforce and an unpinning evidence-based theory of change.