England’s children’s commissioner has warned that custody is being used as a “waiting room” for hundreds of children who are held unnecessarily while awaiting trial or sentence, because the support systems meant to help them are failing. Dame Rachel de Souza told the annual Longford Lecture that many young people are remanded not because they present the greatest risk but because alternative services are inadequate, and she called for all young offender institutions (YOIs) in England to be closed.
De Souza said the country had ‘‘retreated from our moral duty’’ and grown complacent about children in custody. ‘‘We have left a vacuum in the services that children need,’’ she said. ‘‘Childhood is short and wild and precious. But once you’re remanded into custody your innocence is gone. You see things. You’re told you’re guilty. I am worried that we have become complacent about children in custody. We have treated it as a battle won. We have to close all young offender institutions.’’
New research published alongside the commissioner’s report highlights long and often avoidable periods in custody for remanded children. In 2023–24, 62% of children remanded to custody in England and Wales did not receive a custodial sentence, and 168 children (17%) had their cases dismissed. The report calls for urgent reform of the youth justice system, including replacing YOIs—institutions inspection reports have linked to violence and serious safeguarding failures—with secure homes or specialist foster-care placements.
Inspection findings cited in the report include Ofsted’s July finding of ‘‘serious and systemic failures’’ at Oakhill Secure Training Centre in Milton Keynes, where 23 staff have been suspended in the past year amid allegations about conduct with children. Feltham YOI was described in July 2024 as ‘‘the most violent prison in the country’’ and was temporarily closed in August 2025 because of safety concerns; the report said some teenage inmates had been refusing family visits to protect relatives.
The research found that the average remand length in 2021–22 was 125 nights—an 89% increase since 2013–14—and that more than one in 10 remand cases (14%) lasted over 182 days, exceeding statutory custody limits at both magistrates’ and crown courts. Foster-care placements for remanded children fell from 13% in 2013–14 to 5% in 2021–22.
The report also highlights ethnic disparities: in 2021–22, 56% of remanded children were from Asian, Black, mixed or other minority ethnic groups, with Black and mixed groups overrepresented compared with the child population. A quarter of children remanded in 2021–22 had previously been remanded.
The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.
