New report spotlights outcomes for Haringey children in care

Between April 2025 and March 2026, 251 children in Haringey “had a disposal outcome” through the youth justice system, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Half of the children in the care of Haringey Council faced key legal decisions over alleged criminal offences in 2025/26.

The finding was documented in a recent report on the outcomes for children in care supported by Haringey Youth Justice Service. It was carried out by Matthew Knights, head of service for the local authority’s youth justice and youth at risk strategy.

Between April 2025 and March 2026, 251 children in Haringey “had a disposal outcome” through the youth justice system. This is where a final outcome is reached on an offence or alleged offence committed by a young person.

Across the borough, 45 of these children had been in care at some point in the 2025/26 period. Of these, 51% were children in the care of the Haringey Council.

A ‘State of the Borough’ report published by the local authority in July concluded that Haringey has approximately 264,300 residents, around one fifth of which are children and young people aged under 17.

Eleven children across the borough were remanded to ‘youth detention accommodation’. This measure applies to children aged twelve or over who have been charged with an offence and been refused bail.

This measure is used when a child is charged with a violent or sexual offence – or one which, if an adult was convicted of it, would be punishable with imprisonment of 14 years or more.

Children may also be sent to youth detention facilities when they have been charged with other imprisonable offences. To be sent to youth detention a child must also be over the age of twelve.

In his research, Knights found that the proportion of Haringey children within the youth justice system actually placed within the borough was relatively low, meaning “that only a small selection of children are receiving local services”, which can impact on “relational work” with a child.

As a result, he said that one of the “next steps” for the local authority will be to review the support for children placed out of the borough “that are in need of education support via virtual school”.

Further changes are to be worked on through the council’s Annual Youth Justice Plan 2024-2027. This forms part of its obligation to respond to youth offending with a “statutory regulated service”.

The local authority says the plan supports its work in preventing “young people from entering the youth justice system, and to support those who have to be rehabilitated is vital, complex, and detailed work”.

The council says it “leads this” effort by “working with a range of partners to support young people who are at risk of entering the system or who are going through it”.

One of the “service priorities” identified by the the independent reviewing officer (IRO) for 2026/27 is an increase in the “visibility” and contribution of IRO specialist expertise in several areas, including in “serious youth violence”.

Discussions between councillors and senior officers at the corporate parenting advisory committee meeting, held on Monday (21st), were due to be covered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. However, around half-an-hour after the meeting was due to start, an absence of key committee members led to an announcement that the meeting was “not quorum”. As a result, members of the press and public were excluded from attending the discussions.

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