Birmingham quits devolved youth custody budget scheme

The authority is one of four areas piloting the landmark scheme alongside north east London, west London, and West Yorkshire. But the council has opted to activate a release clause halfway through the two-year project. The decision follows news that west London is considering quitting the scheme.

Birmingham City Council blamed last summer’s riots, and the subsequent impact on custody rates, for its failure to meet targets for reducing the use of custody in the area.

Under the scheme the authority, which announced on Tuesday (23 October) that it will have to make cuts of £600m by 2017, was set a target of reducing the use of youth custody by 19 per cent in relation to 2010/11 levels.

A spokeswoman for the council told CYP Now it has not met the first year target of a 10 per cent reduction.

By leaving the project a year early, Birmingham will not be held liable for paying back cash that it was given to invest in measures to reduce custody. Had it continued the project and failed to meet the two-year reduction target, it would have been required to pay back the money to the Ministry of Justice.

The spokeswoman said custody rates had already been reduced by 40 per cent in the city in the space of five years prior to entering the pilot project.

“Clearly the disturbances in the city last year had an impact on this, meaning our 10 per cent first year reduction target has not been met,” she said. “Given the potential cost to the city council of paying back funding we have decided not to continue in the pilot in the second year.

“The pilot has had many benefits including establishing services for complex families, which will now continue under the 'troubled families' funding and we continue to be fully committed to reducing youth crime in the city.”

The future of the project, known as the youth justice reinvestment pathfinder initiative, in other pilot areas is also unclear.

Although West Yorkshire is set to continue with the scheme, both west London and north east London are considering their options.

Andrew Christie, director of children’s services at the tri-borough partnership of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster, which along with Ealing make up the west London consortia, has said that “results have not been quite as hoped”.

A spokeswoman for Hackney Council, which is leading on the north east London partnership, said a decision on the future of the project has not been made.

Youth custody is currently at its lowest level since recent records began, with 1,643 under-18s in youth prisons as of August this year. That represents a 46 per cent reduction since August 2008, when the level stood at 3,019.

The Youth Justice Board (YJB), which is overseeing the project, said it is disappointed that Birmingham is not continuing with the pilot.

"The programme is ambitious and while Birmingham entered into it voluntarily we understand that they have subsequently faced other challenges," John Drew, chief executive of the YJB, said.

"We welcome their acknowledgment of the value of the programme so far and the learning they have gained from it, and we will continue to work with them on their efforts to reduce the use of custody."