Children on short-term remand: Howard League welcomes inspectors’ review

The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ thematic review on children on short-term remand, published today (Wednesday 27 May).

The review found that a lack of effective communication between youth justice services and the judiciary and a lack of suitable accommodation meant that children ended up being remanded to custody unnecessarily.

Almost 100 children each year are remanded to custody only to be bailed or moved to local authority accommodation less than two weeks later. Inspectors found that this not only caused disruption to the children’s lives, but also destabilised custodial establishments and diverted resources from other children in custody. Short-term custodial remand offered too little time to provide children with constructive support. Children did not always know why they had been taken into custody and too often did not receive entitlements such as telephone calls.

The review shows that two out of every five children in custody are there on remand, and more than half do not go on to receive a custodial sentence.

Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.), Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Prison is a toxic place for children, and spending even a few days in that environment can be terrifying and profoundly damaging. Although remand should always be a last resort, too many children are being sent there by the courts and being punished for the mistakes of services who ought to be helping them.

“The majority of children placed on remand and bailed within seven days or fewer are placed in a young offender institution, where they experience long periods locked behind their doors with very little to do. This will never help children to grow and lead productive lives as adults. Only smaller, more intensive settings can meet the needs of children who require secure accommodation.

“Over the last four years, the inspectorate has produced several reports on the problems facing children remanded to custody, and little has changed in that time. But the government’s White Paper on youth justice sets a goal to reduce the use of custodial remand for children by 25%, and the findings published today underline why achieving this target is so important.”

Notes to editors

1. The Howard League for Penal Reform is the oldest penal reform charity in the world. It is a national charity working for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.
2. Children on short-term remand: A thematic review by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons will be made available on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website.
3. ‘The youth justice White Paper’, a Howard League blogpost published in May 2026, can be found here.
4. In a blogpost published in September 2025, the Howard League explained that, while the number of children sentenced to custody had fallen steadily in the last decade, the number of children on remand had not reduced at the same rate. As a consequence, the proportion of children in custody who were on remand had increased and, within that population, Black and Mixed heritage children were significantly over-represented. ‘Children on remand: Racial disparities in England and Wales’ can be found here.
5. In 2021, the Howard League began a project to understand and help children on remand in prison with their unmet legal support needs. The aim was to understand, in discussion with professionals, why children had been remanded to custody and to see if they could be supported to get bail. Alongside legal casework, the Howard League talked to children about their experiences on remand and their perceptions of what led to it. What’s wrong with remanding children to prison? Remand briefing one: Emerging themes, a briefing published in September 2021, can be found here. Children on remand. Remand briefing two: Voices and lessons, a briefing published in May 2022, can be found here.
6. In March 2026, the Howard League revealed that boys in the three prisons in England that hold children – Feltham, Werrington and Wetherby – were typically being kept in their cells for about 20 hours a day and getting much less than 15 hours of education per week.

Contact

Rob Preece
Communications Manager
Tel: +44 (0)7714 604955
Email: [email protected]