Government to review national guidelines for criminalisation of children in care

The government has announced a wide-ranging review of the National Protocol on reducing the unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children and care leavers, amid growing concern about the disproportionate number of care-experienced young people entering the justice system.

The review, unveiled during National Care Leavers’ Month, will examine how local authorities, schools and police can better collaborate to identify children at risk and intervene earlier with support such as trauma-informed counselling and peer mentoring. It will also consider stronger accountability mechanisms for agencies including health services, ensuring children in care are not punished more harshly than their peers for low-level incidents.

Children in care and care leavers remain significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system. According to government figures, care-experienced people are four times more likely to receive a criminal conviction and ten times more likely to end up in prison than other young people.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said strengthening the protocol would help ensure vulnerable children are treated as children first, not as offenders.
“I’ve seen firsthand how children in care too often bear the brunt of other people’s failures to protect them,” he said. “Ensuring they get proper help and support means we can change the path they’re on, stop them turning to lives of crime and give them a more positive future.”

Lammy added that reducing the number of care-experienced children entering custody could ultimately lead to at least 20,000 fewer adults in prison over the long term, aligning with the government’s wider Plan for Change.

Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister said the strengthened protocol would sit alongside new measures requiring councils to provide improved support and accommodation for care leavers.

“Every child in care deserves to be met with understanding and opportunity,” he said. “If a child in care ends up in contact with the justice system, our strengthened National Protocol will make sure they are treated with care and compassion.”

Policing Minister Sarah Jones said the review formed part of wider cross-government efforts to prevent vulnerable young people from being drawn into crime:
“Children in care face challenges no child should experience. We are focusing on how to better join up local authorities, schools, the police and others to make sure they have every chance to thrive.”

The move follows the Children’s Commissioner’s call for the protocol, first published in 2018, to be applied more consistently across England. Dame Rachel de Souza has repeatedly warned that children in care are too often criminalised for behaviour that would typically be managed within a family home.

“Children in care are frequently charged with offences such as assault or criminal damage under £5,000 – behaviours that, in any other home, would be treated with care, understanding and support,” she said. “When it comes to children in care, we take away their innocence.”

She welcomed the government’s swift response and said she looked forward to working with ministers to improve outcomes for care-experienced children.

The updated National Protocol is expected to be published in spring 2026. It will form part of the government’s broader agenda to expand opportunities for young people and sits alongside Lammy’s Global Campaign on Children’s Care Reform, launched earlier this year.