Ofsted inspectors have found that young offenders and young people at risk in England are often placed in secure accommodation many miles from home, reports the BBC. In its report, Admission and discharge from secure accommodation, Ofsted urges the Youth Justice Board to review the number of secure accommodation placements so young people can be held in settings closer to their families. The watchdog also makes a series of recommendations to local authorities.

The report's key findings:

• The extent to which organisations such as youth offending teams, schools and colleges could work successfully with young people in secure settings was severely limited by the insufficient number and range of appropriate secure placements.
• Work between professionals and the families of young people who were sentenced or remanded by a court was very limited until the placement had been made.
• All the secure establishments visited engaged themselves with other agencies very quickly and effectively once a young person was admitted.
• Many young people were placed a long distance from their home, and some parents had to make journeys of hundreds of miles to visit their children.
• These young people were unlikely to have the same level of support as those who were placed locally, on either admission or discharge from the secure setting. This adversely affected plans for successful transfer and reintegration into the community.
• Secure establishments used assessment, planning and review effectively, which included involving other organisations as well as the young people and their families.
• Young people generally received good emotional support, and the relationships between young people, their families and staff within the secure establishments were very positive.
• It was common for agreed discharge arrangements for young people not to be in place until the last days of the placement.
• Social workers and workers from youth offending teams did not participate sufficiently in planning for young people to move back into the community.
• Staff in secure placements were usually unable to make significant continuing contributions to planning or services for young people after they were discharged.

Recommendations

The Youth Justice Board should:

- review the range, number and location of secure placements within the estate to ensure that young people:

• are placed as close as is practicably possible to their home
• maintain contact with their families
• have appropriate vocational and work experiences
• have continuity of care before, during and after admission

- involve and consult the appropriate youth offending teams, secure establishments, social workers and the families about the most appropriate placement of young people sentenced or on remand
- consider the cost implications of placing young people a long distance from their homes and seek to achieve better value for money.

Local authorities responsible for placing children and young people within the secure estate should:
- wherever possible, seek to involve parents and families in decision-making when young people are to be placed on a ‘welfare’ order and give due regard to their opinions
- ensure that young people who are entitled to support under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 receive the services they require during their placement within a secure establishment
- ensure that young people moving out of secure settings have a guaranteed education or training place arranged for them
- ensure that firm discharge plans, based on the assessed need of the individual young person, are in place sufficiently early to enable transitional work with any new placement or facilities.

Secure establishments should:
- consider, at all reviews, how young people may be supported throughout their placement and during the immediate period following their discharge to home or to another placement
- ensure that each child or young person placed in a secure setting is allocated a named worker to provide personal support throughout their placement and during the period of transition.

Admission and discharge from secure accommodation report

BBC summary