Spending Review: Severe cuts to youth justice funding could be avoided, sector leaders claim

Gareth Jones, vice-chair of the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers, told CYP Now a 24 per cent cut over four years to the MoJ budget, announced today by chancellor George Osborne, is broadly in line with earmarked efficiencies.

In June, John Drew, chief executive of the YJB, said savings totalling 25 per cent in the annual budget could be made over the next three years based on predictions of steadily falling custody levels. This could mean significant cuts to budgets for youth offending teams (YOTs) and for preventative work being avoided, Jones said.

"It would appear to be a good sign," he added. "There have been reductions in custody and falling numbers going through the system.

"You would expect that the government would continue to encourage something that works and saves the taxpayer in the long term."

Of more concern to Jones is the impact of removing the ringfence on revenue grants to local authorities. This, he fears, if it should apply to funding intended for YOTs, could lead to some local authorities using YJB and MoJ cash, to "prop up" other services.

"For YOTs like mine with very healthy partnerships it won’t be such an issue but some local authorities might see it as a chance to shore up other areas," he said. "Facing reductions of 28 per cent, the temptation might be difficult to resist."

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the comprehensive spending review offers the chance to "strategically reduce prison numbers".

"Simply slashing jobs and opening the prison gates is not an option," she said. "That is particularly the case if probation budgets are similarly squeezed, as seems likely.

"There is an opportunity to strategically reduce prison numbers, while changing the way we respond to crime and people who commit offences.

"But if the Ministry of Justice approaches the next few years as a simple cost-cutting exercise, then that opportunity will be lost and the justice system will be left unable to cope and effectively crippled for the foreseeable future."

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said proper investment in community solutions and mental healthcare, effective working between departments and greater devolution to local authorities will help to cut crime and reduce reoffending.

"This could be the first government to prove that closing prison works," she said.