The Youth Justice Board has announced that from 1 April it will commission a total of 138 beds compared to the current 166 – a reduction of 17 per cent.
With places in SCHs – the most resource-intensive provision in the youth secure estate – costing around £220,000 per year each, the move is set to save in the region of £6.2m.
Lin Hinnigan, chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, said: "The YJB is committed to maintaining the secure children’s home sector to accommodate young people for whom it is appropriate provision.
"The welcome reduction in the number of young people in custody has allowed us to review the current provision of secure children’s homes beds to better match supply and demand."
News that the number of places commissioned in SCHs will fall comes just weeks after plans to create a network of so-called “secure colleges” were unveiled.
The government has said it wants secure colleges to eventually cater for the “vast majority” of young people in custody, but has said that some specialist provision for “the very youngest and most vulnerable young people” will be retained.
The last reduction in SCH places came in 2012, when the number of beds commissioned was reduced from 183, to 166.
The total number of beds commissioned have now halved since 2002, when there were 274 places.
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