Councils face hike in youth custody remand costs

Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, financial responsibility for remand was passed from the government to councils in April 2013.

The cost per night of keeping a young person in custody, known as a "bed night", was £177 for a young offender institution (YOI), £472 for secure training centres (STC), and £574 for secure children's homes (SCH).

However, the Youth Justice Board has announced that, as of this month, the price has gone up to £191 for YOIs, £536 for STCs and £579 for SCHs - increases of 7.9 per cent, 13.6 per cent, and 0.9 per cent respectively.

The decision has come in for criticism from children's services leaders.

Jenny Coles, chair of the Association of Directors of Children's Services families, communities and young people policy committee, said youth offending teams have experienced a significant decrease in their funding from central government in recent years and there is a risk this could have an impact on the success these teams have had.

"These increased fees will place already stretched council budgets under even further strain at a time when demand for our services is high," she said.

"It must be recognised that reductions to local authority budgets to date alongside the cumulative effect of reductions right across public services have and will impact heavily on our work and our ability to make the biggest difference to the most vulnerable children and young people." 

One of the aims of passing the cost on to councils was to incentivise them to find alternatives to remand, such as specialist foster care.

Ministry of Justice and YJB monthly figures, show that since the switch in financial responsibility there has been a fall in the number of under-18s on remand in custody.

In April 2012 the figure stood at 406 but fell to 293 in April 2013. Further falls have taken place since then, with 201 under-18s on remand in custody in April 2016. There were 189 children in this situation in January 2017, the most recent available monthly figure.

This mirrors a drop in overall youth custody levels in recent years, from 2,196 in January 2010 to 862 in January this year, the latest monthly figure available.

But while numbers have fallen, incidents of violence in custody are rising. YJB figures released in January showed that the number of assaults in custody rose six per cent, from 2,736 in 2014/15 to 2,900 in 2015/16.

Following January's publication of the final report of Charlie Taylor's review of youth justice, the government has promised to act on two of his key recommendations.

Ministers have agreed to establish secure schools, with two set to be trialed, and they have also pledged to set aside £15m to boost staff numbers in YOIs, in response to Taylor's concerns around the rise in violence.