YOIs cost 100k a place, says report

Following extensive research, the team behind proposals for a new youngoffenders academy (YOA) estimated the true cost of a YOI to be around100,000 a year for each young person, not the publicly quotedfigure of up to 60,000.

John Plummer, project director of the proposed YOA in east London, saidthe finding has implications for the debate around devolving the cost ofcustody, and decisions about which type of custody unit to place youngpeople in.

A report by the Foyer Federation, which proposes a YOA as an alternativeto YOIs, found there were a number of additional costs associated withYOIs that do not apply to secure training centres (STCs) or securechildren's homes (SCHs).

These additional costs include management costs, staff pension costs,insurance and services required during reception stages and upon leavinga YOI.

Plummer said: "If the true costs of places in YOIs were charged by thePrison Service to the Youth Justice Board (YJB) for the 2,600 placespresently occupied, the charge would be around 260m rather thanthe present charge of around 143m. If the cost of youth custodywere known, different decisions would be made on a wide variety ofalternatives to custody."

The estimated cost of a STC each year is 178,000 per young personwith an SCH costing around 210,00 per young person.

YJB chief executive John Drew conceded that published figures do notinclude the cost of some provisions but had not seen any evidence tosupport the report's figure of 100,000.