Policy paper

Secure schools: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 factsheet

Updated 20 August 2022

1. What are we going to do?

We are introducing a measure to ensure that operating a secure school can be a charitable activity. This measure will provide charitable providers confidence that they can operate secure schools in line with both their charitable objects and the government’s secure schools vision.

In secure schools, the government wants to engage visionary child-focused providers of the highest calibre. The majority of organisations with the necessary background and experience to run a secure school are charities. This change is therefore fundamental to the growth of the secure schools programme and the youth custody reform programme, more generally.

We are also introducing a measure to establish a clear statutory basis for the use of temporary release in Secure Children’s Homes (SCHs) in England and Wales.

SCHs do not have a clear statutory power to temporarily release children. Currently children can be released under a programme known as ‘mobility’, however we are proposing to clarify the law on this issue.

This measure will not apply to Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) or Secure Training Centres (STCs). These secure establishments have existing statutory powers to make temporary release decisions for children.

2. How are we going to do it?

We are amending the Academies Act 2010 to clarify that setting up, establishing and running a secure 16 to 19 academy can be a charitable activity. We are also amending the Academies Act 2010 to clarify that 16 to 19 academies can provide secure accommodation as secure 16 to 19 academies, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State.

The measure has been drafted so that it does not extend charitable status to any other institution providing educational or justice services.

We are including a provision to establish a power for SCH managers and the Secretary of State to grant temporary release. Guidance will be published to establish best practice and support SCH managers to carry out this responsibility.

3. Secure Schools Background

The government’s 2019 manifesto committed to trialling secure schools. Secure schools are a planned new form of youth custody which will align the youth custodial estate with international evidence that smaller, more therapeutic units are more successful in rehabilitating offenders and reducing reoffending.

Secure schools will be dually established as SCHs and secure 16-19 academies and run by specialist, child-focused providers who will provide a therapeutic environment in a secure setting. Providers will place education, health and purposeful activity at the heart of youth custody.

The secure schools concept emanated from the 2016 Taylor Review of the Youth Justice System, which recommended that the government reconceive youth custodial institutions as schools.

The first secure school is due to open on the site of the former Medway STC in 2022. In 2019, the government announced that Oasis Charitable Trust would be the provider of the first secure school.

In the long term, the government’s vision is that secure schools and similar smaller units will replace YOIs and STCs.

4. Secure Children’s Homes Background

SCHs accommodate children who have been given custodial sentences. These children can be boys or girls, aged between 10 and 17. SCHs are one of three types of secure establishment for children, alongside YOIs and STCs.

Temporary release involves the release of a child from a secure establishment for a specified purpose and length of time. Effective temporary release can support more effective re-integration into the community upon release.

5. Frequently Asked Questions

5.1 Who will decide if a child should go to the first secure school and what criteria will they use to make the decision? 

The Youth Custody Service (YCS) placements team decides where to place each child sentenced or remanded to custody, according to the child’s individual needs and circumstances. The YCS will also make decisions relating to the placement of children in secure schools. 

5.2 Is the first secure school only for children from Kent? 

The secure school is not only for children from Kent. Children sentenced to custody could be placed there from anywhere in the country. Closeness to home is considered alongside a number of other factors in determining where a child is placed.

5.3 Will you put serious offenders in with children who have committed lesser crimes?

The YCS placements team decides where to place each child sentenced or remanded to custody, according to the child’s individual needs and circumstances. Secure schools will take a child-focused and trauma-informed approach to all children, no matter the reason for their placement. 

5.4 Can children/parents apply to go to the school instead of a YOI? 

Children and parents will not be able to apply for placement in a secure school rather than a YOI. The YCS placements team will decide where to place each child sentenced or remanded to custody, according to the child’s individual needs and circumstances. 

5.5 Can a child be moved out of the school and into a YOI (or vice versa)? 

From time to time, it may be necessary to move children sentenced or remanded to custody between secure schools and YOIs. The YCS will make every effort to ensure a child remains in the same institutions for the duration of their placement. 

5.6 What happens at age 18? 

Secure schools will accept placements of young people between the ages of 12 and 18. The YCS will decide, in accordance with policy, the circumstances in which an 18 year old will transfer from a secure school to the adult estate

5.7 What will the average day look like for a child? 

Secure school providers will take a child-focused and trauma-informed approach to youth custody and will have the freedom and autonomy to create a therapeutic environment in a secure setting. The average day will include provision for education, health care and purposeful activity. Secure school providers will be responsible for setting the daily schedule within a secure school, in consultation with the Ministry of Justice. 

5.8 Why legislate to ensure that operating a secure school will be a charitable activity? 

We are setting secure schools up as educational institutions. They will be dual-established as secure 16-19 academies and secure children’s homes. We want visionary child-focused providers to run secure schools. Many of the organisations who meet that criteria are charities. As secure schools are being set up in a justice context, there are some complex issues regarding their potential charitable status. We have been working through these issues with the Charity Commission and we have now concluded it would be helpful to clarify the issue to provide a clear platform for charitable providers of secure schools. 

5.9 Will the charitable status measure be limited to secure schools?  

Yes. Secure schools will be established under education and children social care legislation as both a secure children’s home and a secure 16 to 19 academy. As such we can distinguish secure schools from justice institutions in legislation. We have worked with DCMS, DfE and the Commission to make sure that the legislation clarifying charitable status only extends to secure schools 

5.10 How will this measure preserve the integrity of charity law? 

We have engaged productively with cross-government partners in DCMS, the DFE and the Charity Commission to agree an approach that achieves our policy aims and supports the Commission and DCMS in preserving the integrity of charity law. 

5.11 What is the evidence base for secure schools?  

International evidence shows that young people in custody are likely to require intensive support to help them to desist from offending and that recidivism can be reduced by well-implemented therapeutic interventions both within community and custody settings. Provision must be needs-led and focused on addressing the underlying causes of behaviour through an emphasis on personal development including psycho-social skills, mental and physical health, and education. Secure schools are being developed around this evidence base.  

5.12 Will secure schools replace all existing YOIs and STCs, and how does the approach compare to the existing YOI and STC models? 

The ambition is for secure schools and secure children’s homes to become the model for all future youth custody. The aim is to have secure schools delivering high-quality education and health provision, in order to improve the life chances, and outcomes for these children, which will also mean reduced reoffending. Evidence suggests that reoffending can better be reduced through a more therapeutic environment, and while work is going on to adapt YOIs to deliver that, they weren’t designed with that in mind. 

5.13 How will SCHs ensure public safety when temporarily releasing children?

Prior to making decisions on a temporary release, SCHs will have to complete a centralised risk assessment. The risk assessment will ensure that possible risks, to the child and to the public, have been considered, and that all appropriate steps have been taken to mitigate these risks.

5.14 Will the temporary release measure impact children on remand or children placed in SCHs on a welfare basis?

This bill will not affect children on remand, nor will it affect welfare placements. The latter has been agreed with the Department of Education. Temporary release is a tool for reintegration into the community following a custodial sentence. It is not a relevant factor for welfare placements or for children remanded into custody.