MoJ considers stripping councils of youth remand funding

The consultation, launched by the Ministry of Justice last week (24 August), sets out a series of proposals to reform remand funding arrangements based on a recommendation made in the department’s Review of Custodial Remand for Children published last year.

The MoJ states that it has also launched the consultation “given that it is 10 years since the introduction of the current arrangements” which see councils “receive an annual payment as a contribution towards cost recovery on local authorities for custodial remands, and for supporting remanded children as looked after”.

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The model provides non-ringfenced funding designed to encourage investment in alternatives to custody and for local areas to reduce use of custody “however they deem best”, according to the MoJ consultation document.

“It was anticipated that when a remand to custody was avoided, the difference that would have been spent on custody could instead be spent to develop local remand services,” the document states.

It adds that local authorities are charged a “sector price” for each remand to custody, based on a set price per night per child, depending on the setting in which they are placed.

However, citingthe findings of its remand review, the MoJ states: “Many local authorities and YOTs are not incentivised or disincentivised in these ways by the funding model because of their commitment to avoiding the damaging effects of custody and to a child-first approach.

“Moreover there is less incentivisation because the remand funding allocation (whether resulting in a surplus or a deficit in year) is so small compared to wider children’s services budgets.”

It also highlights that since the funding was established in 2013, there has been a reduction in the monthly average number of children on custodial remand from 338 in 2012/13 to 207 in 2021/22.

In 2022/23 on average 42 per cent of the youth custody population were there on remand, compared with 27 per cent in 2018/19. 

Proposals put forward in the consultation, which will be sent to organisations including the Association of Directors Children’s Services, the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers, and the Local Government Association, include:

• Making no change;

• Changing how funding is allocated (including a regional approach);

• End the funding model and set up a central funding pot into which areas can bid for remand-related initiatives; or

• End the funding to local authorities and put funding to a different use to improve youth justice-related outcomes.

The consultation, which is also open to the public and other organisations interested in the funding model, closes on 8 November.