Children’s Commissioner highlights plight of children in custody as Home Office sets out plans for girls in custody

Children’s Commissioner highlights plight of children in custody as Home Office sets out plans for girls in custody – Family Law Week

On 11 November 2025 the Children’s Commissioner delivered the 2025 Longford Lecture, entitled “Guilty until Proven Innocent: Every child’s right to freedom, fairness, and opportunity”.

The Children’s Commissioner’s website notes that the lecture included the findings from the Commissioner’s latest report, “A production line of pointlessness: Children on custodial remand”.

This Report, published on 11 November 2025, noted:

“Hundreds of innocent children locked up each year and treated as guilty until proven innocent with custodial remand used as a ‘waiting room’ when wider services fail them

Most went on to receive either no custodial sentence or had cases dropped – resulting in lengthy and unwarranted time behind bars

Delivering annual Longford Lecture tonight, Commissioner will warn we have ‘retreated from our moral duty’ and ‘become complacent about children in custody’

She will call for urgent reforms to youth justice, closing all Young Offender Institutions and increasing use of foster care over custody

Hundreds of children are left in a ‘waiting room’ limbo each year, being unnecessarily locked up in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing – not because they pose the greatest risk, but because the systems designed to support them are failing, the Children’s Commissioner has warned”.

Prefiguring what she would say in the Lecture, the Press Release of the Report noted:

“Research on the use of custodial remand for children – the process in which young people are held in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing, rather than being released on bail – shows that the majority did not go on to receive a custodial sentence or had their case dropped, despite many facing lengthy and anxious waits on remand.

Dame Rachel de Souza has called for urgent reforms to the youth justice system, including closing all Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) – where multiple inspection reports have warned of violence and serious safeguarding concerns – and instead increasing the use of familial, caring placements in secure homes or specialist foster care.

Delivering this year’s Longford Lecture in central London tonight (Tuesday), Dame Rachel will warn that a generation of children is being let down by society’s failure to provide moral leadership, allowing a vacuum to appear in the services on which children rely – social care, housing, education and justice.

She will urge society not to become ‘complacent’ about children living in custody, highlighting shocking reports of violence and poor staff practice at many youth justice settings in the past year alone: 23 staff members at Oakhill Secure Training Centre were suspended in the past year over allegations about their conduct with children, Feltham YOI was judged ‘the most violent prison in the country’ as recently as July 2024 by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Oasis Secure School was closed temporarily in August 2025 due to safety concerns in the building”.

Within the Report it was noted that:

“While the proportion of remand to custody fell from a peak of 94% in 2015-16 to 71% in 2023-24, overall progress remains too slow and inconsistent, leaving too many children unnecessarily detained and exposed to harm.

In 2023-24, more than half of all remands to custody in England and Wales (62%) did not receive a custodial sentence. Among them, 168 children (17%) had their case dismissed altogether.

Despite a decrease in the use of remand over the last decade, the average length of time on remand increased by 89% since 2013-14 to 125 nights in 2021-22 – over four months. More than one in ten (14%) of remand cases were for more than 182 days, longer than both the custody limit of 56 days at Magistrates Court and the upper limit of 182 days at Crown Court”.

In terms of key findings the Report notes:

“Limited choices: At the same time of overall use of remand falling, there were limited remaining options for children with foster care placements dropping from 13% in 2013-14 to 5% in 2021-22. At the same time, placements to residential or semi-independent placements rose from 2.5% to 11%.

Local authority postcode lottery: The use of remand by local authorities varied substantially based on where children lived, with one local authority using custodial remand in all remand cases, while another used remand for 38% of cases. Almost two in five (38%) of local authorities used remand for at least three-quarters of cases.

Racial inequality: Evident ethnic disparities pervade the justice system and remand is no exception. In 2021-22, over half (56%) of children remanded were from an Asian, black, mixed or other ethnic group, with black and mixed ethnicity children over-represented in the population of children on custodial remand.

Multiple episodes and short episodes of remand: Multiple remand episodes were not uncommon, and of all children remanded into custody in 2021-22, a quarter had previously been remanded into custody. Short-term custodial remands were also common, with 11% of episodes being 14 nights or less, and 8% being 7 nights or less.

In interviews, children on remand frequently spoke about feelings of uncertainty and anxiety around their court hearings and the potential length of time they may spend in custody, while waiting for court decisions”.

By way of solutions, the Commissioner calls for:

“A new, therapeutic youth justice system to replace the current secure estate, led by the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England, delivered through smaller, homely settings close to where children live – backed by a clear plan to phase out the use of Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) and Secure Training Centres (STCs).

Commissioning high needs accommodation placements on a regional basis, to ensure that children have equal access to suitable, high-quality placements designed to meet their specific needs, regardless of where they live.

Inclusion of children on remand in new accommodation planning, with the DfE ensuring children on remand are fully including in the planning of new accommodation options being built for Section 25 of the Children Act, following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2025.

An independent ‘secure review’ into all the secure accommodation for children across care, health and justice, to ensure coordinated planning and consistent quality.

Expansion of specialist remand fostering to provide a real alternative to custody – and meaning children are no longer held on remand simply because there is nowhere else for them to go.

A statutory review mechanism to regularly reassess whether a child still needs to be held in custodial remand.

A youth sentencing review to prohibit custodial sentences of less than 12 months and strengthen the use of robust, community-based alternatives…”.

In a further Press Release, the Children’s Commissioner wrote:

“Since becoming the Children’s Commissioner, I have travelled across the country meeting children whose lives are shaped by decisions made far away from them and those whose voices are rarely heard.

Time and time again, I have witnessed children being held on custodial remand, not because they pose the greatest risk, but because the system around them has failed. This report shines a light on one of the most troubling aspects of our youth justice system, the use of custodial remand on children.

Every child has the right to grow up safe, loved, and with the opportunity to thrive. Yet, for too many children, that promise is broken long beforehand.

Last year, 441 children who were locked up in custody awaiting their hearing did not end up receiving a custodial sentence. Another 168 children had their case dismissed altogether.

These are not harmless delays. Even a short spell in custody can be profoundly damaging to a child. From disrupting education, cutting them off from their family and community and sometimes entrenching the vulnerabilities that brought them into contact with the justice system in the first place. That experience leaves a mark, one that lasts long after their release.

What children tell me most about their time on remand is the uncertainty. Not knowing what the outcome will be or how long they will be held in custody. They describe feeling powerless, having to cope with waiting for decisions that are constantly delayed and beyond their control”.

Meanwhile, on 11 November the Ministry of Justice announced ‘Government to transform care for girls in custody’, stating, ‘Girls caught up in the youth justice system will receive better support to turn their lives around, thanks to major reforms set out by the Government today (11 November) as part of the Plan for Change’.

The Government Press Release highlights plans for:

“New advisory board set up to champion girls’ needs

Targeted investments made into alternatives to custody

New training for staff on responding to self-harm

A Girls in Youth Justice Board will be established to bring together senior leaders and experts from NHS England, government, charities, and the Youth Justice sector to improve their care and outcomes, with self-harm among this group at concerning levels”.

Giving more detail the Press Release states:

“Crucially, the Board will include individuals with lived experience of the youth justice system and seek to promote effective gender-specific practices. It will meet for the first time next month, marking a significant milestone in the Government’s efforts to deliver lasting change for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Despite making up less than 2 per cent of the youth custodial population, girls account for over half of self-harm incidents – and are five times more likely than boys to be victims of sexual assault.

Today’s announcement follows Government action in March to permanently end the placement of girls in Young Offender Institutions, after an independent review by Susannah Hancock recommended the move to better address the complex mental and physical health challenges of girls in custody.  Instead, girls will now always be placed in settings more suited to their needs such as Secure Schools or Secure Children’s Homes.

The Government has now published its full response to Ms Hancock’s review, setting out further steps to improve the support provided to girls in the youth justice system as part of its Plan for Change”.

Minister for Youth Justice Jake Richards said:

“Girls in custody are among the most vulnerable children in our society, and ending their placement in Young Offenders Institutions was a huge step to improving their care. We’re now going further and transforming the care they receive as part of our Plan for Change.

We are building a system that recognises the unique needs of girls and gives them the support they deserve to turn their lives around.

More broadly, the Government has committed capital investment of over £560 million to reform the children’s social care system and support the refurbishment and expansion of the children’s homes estate.

£40 million is also being invested in foster care over three years and pilots are being funded in West Yorkshire and Kent to develop alternatives to custody and strengthen community support for children at risk of remand, alongside a similar Greater Manchester scheme.

Starting in January 2026, a new approach will be tested to help find better care placements for vulnerable children with complex needs. There will also be new training for staff working in the youth justice system to help them respond to self-harm and provide care that takes past trauma into account.

The Youth Custody Service can place girls in different settings across the youth custody estate, including secure children’s homes, the new secure school and Oakhill Secure Training Centre”.

For the full test of the Children’s Commissioner’s Lecture see here

For the Press Release of the Children’s Commissioner’s Report see here

For the Children’s Commissioner’s further Press Release see here

For the Children’s Commissioner’s Report itself see here

For the Ministry of Justice Press Release see here

For the underlying Ministry of Justice Policy paper see here

News Editor- Mark Chaloner, Barrister, 42BR

17/11/2025