16 Response Accepted

Review mixed justice/welfare placement risk

Recommendation

The Chair and Panel recommend that the Department for Education and the Youth Custody Service conduct a full review of the practice of placing children for justice and welfare reasons together in secure children's homes to establish whether it increases the risk of sexual abuse to children. If so, appropriate action should be taken, including consideration of alternative models. The review should be completed within three months, and an action plan should be published within six months.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The Department for Education published its review of placement practices in secure children's homes on 7 May 2021, fulfilling the recommendation to assess the risk of sexual abuse from placing children for justice and welfare reasons together (Official government response, 22 May 2023). The review concluded that this practice does not create or exacerbate systemic risk of child sexual abuse, and consequently, the Department for Education did not propose exploring alternative models. No further published evidence has been identified since May 2021.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 24 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
D
Response
Accepted
Accepted UK Government
22 May 2023

On 7 May 2021, the Department for Education published its review of placement practices in secure children's homes. It concluded that the practice of placing children in mixed justice and welfare homes does not create or exacerbate systemic risk of child sexual abuse. In light of the review, the Department for Education stated that it did not propose exploring alternative models as recommended by the Inquiry.

Read Full Response
Source
Inquiry IICSA
Report Sexual Abuse of Children in Custodial Institutions: 2009-2017 Investigation Report 26 Feb 2019
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Department for Education Primary
Themes & Tags
Child exploitation criminalisation Care safeguarding systems Secure Children's Homes Welfare Justice
Recommendation age 7.1 yrs
Last formal update 1038 days ago