Foundations fit for the future
The MoJ has just (12 February 2026) published its youth justice policy statement entitled “A modern youth justice system: Foundations fit for the future”. The statement acknowledges the considerable success of the youth justice system over the past two decades, with significant reductions in first-time entrants, proven offences, and the number of children in custody.
It acknowledges, however, that the children who come into contact with the system today often present with increasingly complex needs and face significant barriers to rehabilitation. It is also honest that the current system is not meeting this new challenge.
The policy paper sets out the Government’s plans to modernise the governance and funding of youth justice services, strengthen early intervention, and ensure custody is only used as a last resort.
It also says that further reforms will be announced later this Spring.
Funding
One theme of this government has been a simultaneous push for more localism while taking back more powers to central government. Starting this April, the payment of the youth justice core grant will no longer be the responsibility of the Youth Justice Board – an arms-length body – and instead will be directly distributed by the Ministry of Justice.
Alongside this, acknowledging need for youth justice services to plan for the future, the Ministry of Justice will guarantee a multi-year settlement for the core grant from 2026/27 to 2028/29. The total core grant issued by the Ministry will be £93.6m per annum for three years.
This increased central control is evidence by the the requirement for local authorities to produce youth justice annual plans (YJAPs) and submit serious incident notifications (SINs).
There is also an expectation that youth justice services focus on the possession of knives.
Turnaround programme
The ‘Turnaround’ youth justice early intervention programme was established by the Ministry of Justice in 2022, to provide additional funding to support children on the cusp of the youth justice system, with the explicit aim of preventing future offending.
An evaluation of the programme, published at the same time as this policy statement, claims very positive impact with just 7% of children who completed a Turnaround intervention receiving a judicial decision or caution by December 2024.
For this reason, the Government has committed to continue the programme (previously thought to be under threat)for the next three years with funding of £15.4m per year.
The Youth Justice Board
The Government had already announced an independent review of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) (also published alongside the policy). This statement shows that the Government wants to take back more control by relieving the YJB of its roles in developing youth justice standards, overseeing how well they’re being met and advising ministers accordingly.
Although the YJB will not be scrapped, it will, in the analysis of respected youth justice commentator Rob Allen, be a shadow of its former self, now mainly responsible for just driving continuous improvement.
Custody as a last resort
Many youth justice specialists will be reassured that the Government also uses this policy statemen to reaffirm its position “that a child should be sent to custody only ever as a true last resort.” The policy states clearly that unless “children are detained with a clear purpose and a proper plan for their release, custody risks becoming a means of further criminalisation, not rehabilitation, and therefore counterproductive for public protection”.
The Government pledges four main action points to reduce children going to custody, saying it will
- allocate £60m for local authority remand payments over three years;
- introduce a new funding formula for remand payments, to incentivise the use of community alternatives;
- invest a further £5m in regional projects to develop alternatives to custodial remand, with a particular focus on fostering; and
- set out plans for improving standards in youth custody later this year.
The Government also admits that the current conditions for children in custody are “dismaying” although its plans for improving the situation are sketchy to say the least, consisting mainly of initiatives which have been announced previously but not successfully implemented.
Conclusion
Youth justice will be an important challenge for the Government. Unlike with the adult justice system, youth justice is not struggling for resources. While work in the community has generally been of a high quality, the plight of children in custody has been steadily worsening from a very low base. We must wait and see what Justice Secretary Lammy can achieve.
