5 years on from the Youth Custody Improvement Board – where are we now?

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Written By Millie Hall

Last week marked 5 years since the Youth Custody Improvement Board published their findings and recommendations – but the children’s secure estate continues to be mired in crisis. We explore progress to date in implementing the board’s recommendations and what further action is required.

The Youth Custody Improvement Board (YCIB) was set up in 2016 by then Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove, to explore the state of Young Offender Institutions (YOI) and Secure Training Centres (STC) and recommend improvements, particularly around safety and wellbeing. On 24th February 2017, the Findings and Recommendations of the Youth Custody Improvement Board were published.

The YCIB declared that the children’s estate was ‘on the edge of coping’,[i] and soon after the Chief Inspector of Prisons declared no YOI or STC safe to hold children.[ii]

Five years on, what steps have been taken to improve the safety, experiences and treatment of children in custody, and how well have they worked?

AYJ sent a Freedom of Information Request to HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to find out what progress has been made on each of the YCIB’s recommendations. We have received a detailed response setting out which recommendations were accepted, whether they have been achieved, and helpful information on actions taken.

We are glad to see that the majority of the recommendations were accepted and welcome many of the steps that have been taken. However, we are deeply concerned that despite most of the recommendations being deemed ‘fully achieved’ by HMPPS, children’s experiences in custody have continued to worsen.

Levels of violence, self-harm, restraint, and separation in custody increased in the years following the YCIB,[iii] and children’s experiences in custody during COVID-19 have been ‘bleak’.[iv] 40% of children in custody are unsentenced, and over half of children in custody are ‘Black, Asian and minority ethnic’. STCs are in turmoil, with Rainsbrook recently shut down and Oakhill under special measures. The number of children in custody is at a historic low, yet the fall in numbers has not led to an improvement in their treatment and experiences.

There is a clear need for a comprehensive, long-term strategy for the children’s secure estate.

Consideration must now be given to how well YCIB recommendations have been achieved, how the pandemic has impacted progress and exacerbated many long-standing issues in the secure estate,[v] and what more needs to be done to improve the safety and wellbeing of children in custody.

The government must publish a national strategy and improvement plan for the children’s secure estate, including clear timescales for fulfilling its commitment to close YOIs and STCs, how the introduction of Secure Schools fits into a long-term strategy, and how the government is ensuring children held in custody in the meantime have their needs met and rights upheld.

Some useful updates from the FOI response include:

  • YCS is concluding the development of a new performance framework, and will further consider performance measures to help shape site behaviours and bring about improvements in outcomes for children and staff.

  • YCS is progressing with an internal redesign, including the creation of a specific portfolio bringing together safeguarding, casework and resettlement.

  • As of January 2022 there were 284 youth justice specialist officers in post.

  • YOI education contracts expire in August 2022. New contracts will support the Secure Stairs Framework, allowing providers to fully integrate interventions within the education delivery.

  • HMPPS is currently in the process of developing further work to address the specific needs of Black and Mixed Black Heritage Children in custody.

  • NHS England are working to improve access to and data quality of health information within secure settings. Work during 2022/23 will focus on how to extract reliable patient data for Key Performance Indicators at a regional and national commissioner and, and at a patient-level to monitor health inequalities and needs in detail.

Millie Hall
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