An Ealing Council report has warned that more children in the borough are entering the youth justice system for the first time, with some appearing in court charged with increasingly serious offences despite having no previous criminal record.
The rate of first-time entrants rose from 135 to 147 per 100,000 children over the past year, continuing an upward trend over the last two years.
The findings are contained in a review of Ealing’s Strategic Youth Justice Plan by Ian Jenkins, head of Ealing Youth Justice Service, which councillors will discuss at the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday (22 October 2026).
The report raises particular concerns about children appearing in court for the first time charged with harmful sexual behaviour offences. Driving-related offences have also increased, resulting in fines, conditional discharges or community sentences.
Many of these children were already known to social care, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services or other agencies, prompting a council review into whether opportunities for earlier intervention were missed.
Despite the rise in first-time entrants, the figures show improvements elsewhere.
Serious youth violence fell by more than half, with the rate of proven offences dropping from 11 per 10,000 children in 2024–25 to 4.99 in 2025–26. Of the 19 offences recorded in the latest year, 83 per cent were robberies.
The youth justice service has been working with police and youth workers to identify children involved in robberies or at risk of becoming involved.
Reoffending has also fallen, from 31.7 per cent among children in the 2021–22 cohort to 17.3 per cent in the 2023–24 cohort.
Custodial sentences have dropped from five in 2023–24 to two in each of the following two years. Both children sentenced to custody in 2025–26 had been exposed to exploitation by criminal groups.
Of the out-of-court resolutions concluded in 2025–26, 81 per cent were completed successfully.
The service is facing funding cuts as it deals with the rise in first-time entrants and increasingly serious offences.
Funding for Turnaround, which supports children at risk of entering the youth justice system, has been reduced by 33 per cent from its original allocation. Although existing staff have been retained, mentoring and parental support have been scaled back.
Funding for the Your Choice and Robbery Fund programmes has also ended, with the report warning that the service cannot maintain the same range of support without replacement funding.
The report warns: “The seriousness of offending among children entering the criminal justice system for the first time is increasing. This is particularly evident in the growth in first-time entrants charged with harmful sexual behaviour offences.”
It adds: “This trend has been rising over the past 24 months and is expected to continue.”
Source: www.ealing.news
