Official Statistics

YCS Annex: 2024-25

Published 31 July 2025

Applies to England and Wales

© Crown copyright 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-performance-ratings-2024-to-2025/ycs-annex-2024-25

This publication sets out statistics from the YCS Performance Tool (YPT) for the performance year 2024/25 (1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025). This is the second publication of the YPT. The following sites are included; Young Offender Institutes (YOI) – Feltham A, Werrington, Wetherby and Parc Young Person’s Unit and Secure Training Centre (STC) – Oakhill.

1. Main Points

Across the identified ‘priority areas’ there are a suite of indicators, the section below shows the outcomes across these indicators. Comparisons by priority area have been made to last year, however some priority areas and the indicators within them have changed. The 24/25 YPT includes additional indicators aligned to ‘Disparity’, relating to use of force and separation, that sit within the ‘Safety’ priority area, and an additional priority area of ‘Voice of the Child’ which has aligned indicators for Youth Council Meetings. The number of outcomes has changed since 2023/24 due to changes in indicators and the transition of a YOI site to an adult service.

Safety Sites met expectations across 63% of indicator outcomes (19 of 30 outcomes). An increase from 2023/24 when sites met expectations across 42% of indicator outcomes (10 of 24 outcomes).

The increase is largely driven by an increase in met expectations at Oakhill STC, who met all three 2024/25 safety indicator outcomes compared to one outcome in 2023/24.

In both 2023/24 and 2024/25 all sites met expectations for the escape indicator with no escapes in either year. 
Staff Sites met expectations across 60% of indicator outcomes (6 of 10 outcomes). An increase from 2023/24 when sites met expectations across 55% of indicator outcomes (11 of 20 outcomes).

In both 2023/24 and 2024/25 the indicator for staff resignations is largely accountable for more positive outcomes.
Education Sites met expectations across 20% of indicator outcomes (2 of 10 outcomes). Oakhill STC and Parc YOI were the only sites to meet expectations in the education area. This represents a decrease from 2023/24 when sites met expectations across 25% of indicator outcomes (3 of 12 outcomes).

In both 2023/24 and 2024/25, no public YOI met expectations across any indicators.
Resettlement Sites met expectations across 50% of indicator outcomes (10 of 20 outcomes). An increase from 2023/24 when sites met expectations across 42% of indicator outcomes (10 of 24 outcomes).

In both 2023/24 and 2024/25 met outcomes related primarily to suitable accommodation being organised for eligible planned community release and successful release on temporary licence.
Voice of the Child Sites met expectations across 60% of indicator outcomes (6 of 10 outcomes), relating primarily to youth council outcomes.

As this priority area and aligned indicators is new for the 2024/25 performance year, comparisons to previous years cannot be made.

2. Statistician’s Comment

This is the Youth Custody Service Performance Tool’s second publication and covers the period between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025.

A suite of indicators was set for the start of the performance year across the following priority areas; safety, staffing, education, and resettlement. The ‘integrated care’ priority area has been removed from the 2024/25 YPT and ‘Voice of the Child’ has been added.

2024/25 Safety indicators have seen notable improvement in outcomes being met (63%) compared to 2023/24 (42%), largely driven by an increase in positive outcomes at Oakhill STC who met 100% of their safety indicators in 2024/25 compared to 25% in 2023/24. In addition, 11% (1 out of 9 outcomes) were met in 2024/25 for public YOI sites in safety indicators for assaults or self-harm compared to no public YOI sites meeting outcomes the previous year (0 out of 12 outcomes)

Comparison between the 2024/25 and 2023/24 YPT publication shows some consistency between the performance years. Sites ‘met expectations’ across the three indicators of Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) (100%), Escape Rate (100%) and Accommodation Suitability Prior to Release (100%) in both years.

In contrast to the previous performance year when three sites met expectations (50%), all sites met expectations for Staff Resignations (100%) in the 2024/25 performance year.

2024/25 was consistent with 2023/24 performance year in terms of concern across education (20% met) staff sickness (20% met), and no expectations met for accommodation being organised prior to release and Education, Training and Employment opportunities being arranged prior to release

3. Operational Context:

3.1 Cohort Impact:

Over the 2024/25 performance year there have been contributing factors that have impacted on sites’ performance.

Due to its re-categorisation mid-way through the performance year, Cookham Wood YOI is not included in the YPT or the Prison Performance Tool (PPT). They will be included in the PPT from 2025/26. During the 2024/25 performance year, children and young people who had been placed at Cookham Wood YOI were transitioned to other sites with the last child or young person being moved by the end of May 2024.

The number of children and young people at YCS sites differs, with the average population across the YOIs and STC typically ranges from a population of 20 to 150 throughout the 2024/25 performance year. In addition, the cohorts across the sites fluctuate and some sites hold specific groups (e.g. children needing Enhanced Support Units and Girls). There have been no girls in the YOI sector since November 2024, which is within this reporting period. The decision to no longer place girls in the YOI sector was made permanent in March 2025.

A small number of individuals can have a large impact on performance outcomes. For example, the number of girls across the whole Children and Young People Secure Estate (CYPSE), including the Secure Children’s Homes, typically represented less than 2% of the overall average population in 2024/25 performance year. This small group accounted for a considerably higher proportion of self-harm . Please see the Safety in the Children and Young People Secure Estate publication for more information[footnote 1].

The interim policy to hold 18-year-olds in the CYPSE until their 19th birthday, introduced in November 2022 to support the relief of capacity pressures across the custodial estate, ceased in November 2024. In 2024/25 the proportion of the CYPSE estate was above 20%, since this, there has been a reduction in 18-year-olds held in the CYPSE.

During the 2024/25 performance year, public YOIs introduced Roadmaps to Effective Practice[footnote 2].  The Roadmaps are locally led, site-specific plans that outline how each YOI will deliver effective practice over a 3-year period. They are built around the principles of the SECURE STAIRS framework and are tailored to the needs and context of each site.

Several indicators now have repositioned focus within the Roadmaps to Effective Practice, including Custody Support Plans (CuSP), Guided Reflective Practice (GRP) and Enhance Support Services (ESS) this shift reflects a broader move toward site-specific, context-sensitive performance tracking.

Performance oversight is incorporated into the Roadmap to Effective Practice process using data and assurance.  YCS continues to develop its measurement of performance and YPT outcomes for certain indicators may be revised or dropped due to different expectations between sites, and in some cases due to required and ongoing data development work. For example, the Integrated Care priority area indicators have been removed from the 2024/25 YPT, though the other four priority areas remain alongside the inclusion of a new Voice of the Child as a priority area.  

3.2 External Scrutiny:

The YCS estate has a higher number of external inspections, particularly in-comparison to the adult prison estate. Inspections across the YOI and STC estates are conducted by HMIP, Ofsted and Estyn. Scores from inspections contribute to performance indicator outcomes.

4. 2024-25 Overall Indicator Outcomes

The tool does not assign an overall score to sites and instead gives each of the indicators one of two ratings:

  • Met Expectations

  • Concern

5. Performance Areas

The performance indicators used in the YPT are driven by YCS principles and priorities.

Safety

  • There are six indicators under safety: assaults rates, assaults on staff, self-harm incidents as well as escapes and disparity in the use of force and separation incidents:
  • All sites met expectations against the escape indicator which is consistent to the previous performance year.
  • For assaults and self-harm, 40% (6 out of 15) of indicator outcomes met expectations, an increase on the previous year when 17% (3 out of 18) met expectations.
  • All public YOI assault indicators were rated as a concern.
  • 2 of the 3 public YOI sites had  concern as the outcome for their self-harm indicator with Werrington YOI having met expectations (an improvement on the 2023/24 performance year).

Staff

  • There are two indicators under staff: staff resignations and staff sickness:
  • 40% of indicator outcomes were a concern, lower than the previous performance year when 75% were a concern.
  • In 2024/25, 80% of staff sickness indicators were a concern. In contrast, all sites were a concern for staff sickness in 2023/24.
  • Parc YOI was only site to meet expectations over both areas.

Education

  • There are two indicators under education: inspection outcome and enabling education delivery:
  • 80% (8 out of 10) education outcomes were a concern, consistent with the previous performance year (75%) with the three public YOI sites a concern over both education areas in 2024/25 and the previous performance year.
  • Two sites (40%) met expectations on enabling education delivery, no site met expectation over both areas. In 2023/24 Oakhill STC met expectations for both indicators.

Resettlement

  • There are four indicators under resettlement: ‘accommodation organised 28 days prior to release’ and ‘suitable accommodation organised on release’, ‘education, training and employment’ (ETE) and successful ‘release on temporary licence’ (ROTL):
  • ROTL expectations were met across all sites. The sites also met this indicator expectation in 2023/24.
  • 50% of accommodation indicators were met in 2024/25. This was an improvement on the 33% of accommodation indicators that were met in 2023/24. The increase in indicators met was driven by an increase in suitable accommodation organised on release. All sites met expectations for this indicator (100%) compared to 4 out of 6 sites (67%) in 2023/24.

Voice of the Child

  • There are two indicators under Voice of the Child: youth council meetings; ‘arranged’ and ‘attended.’
  • Two sites met expectations across both indicators, with one site a concern across both indicators.

6. Annual Performance Ratings

As part of the annual YPT process, a moderation panel met in June 2025 to determine final ratings, using the data outcomes and contextual information for each site. No ratings were adjusted through the moderation process.

Across all indicators for all sites, 54% of outcomes met expectations. For a second year, Parc YOI had the highest percentage of outcomes that met expectations at 75%.

Figure 1: Annual Performance Ratings 2024-25 by Priority Area

(Source: YCS Annex Table: 2024/25; Table 1)

Figure 2: Annual Performance Ratings 2024-25 by Establishment

(Source: YCS Annex Table: 2024/25; Table 1)

7. Statistical Code of Practice

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. The Code of Practice for statistics can be found at:

 https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Code-of-Practice-for-Statistics-REVISED.pdf

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

The statistics in this bulletin are classified as official statistics. The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 defines ‘official statistics’ as all those statistical outputs produced by the UK Statistics Authority’s executive office (the Office for National Statistics), by central Government departments and agencies, by the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and by other Crown bodies (over 200 bodies in total).

This publication has been produced to the high professional standards as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. However, the analysis is only as good as the data upon which it is based, and there is inherent uncertainty when the data is derived from diverse administrative data systems.

For further details on the methodology used to compile the report, please refer to the guide.

General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from: https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system/

Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to offender management in England and Wales. Equivalent statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/?cat=filter&publicationTypes=statistics

https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/topics/statistics-and-research/statistics-and-research-publications

8. Further Information

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

  • YCS Annex Table: 2024-25
  • YCS Annex Guide: 2024-25

8.1 Further Publications

The following publications contain related statistics and supporting information: 

9. Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/media-enquiries

Tel: 020 3334 3536

Email: newsdesk@justice.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to:

Katherine Tatlock

Youth Custody Service

HM Prison and Probation Service

1 Ruskin Square

Ruskin Road

Croydon

CR0 2WF

Email: YCSInformationAndPerformance@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 30th July 2026

© Crown copyright

Produced by the Ministry of Justice.

Alternative formats are available on request from YCSInformationAndPerformance@justice.gov.uk

  1. Safety in the Children and Young People Secure Estate: Update to March 2025 Youth justice statistics - GOV.UK (Youth Justice Statistics - GOV.UK) ↩

  2. HMPPS YCC Response to the importance of positive relationships in Young Offender Institutions -  (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68556e715225e4ed0bf3ce76/HMPPS_response_letter_on_the_thematic_report_on_the_importance_of_positive_relationships_in_young_offender_institutions.pdf) ↩

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