Funding of over £4 million to establish new secure care houses
has been announced by the Scottish Government.
The funding will allow for restored capacity and enable a
different approach to be developed to ensure children with the
greatest need are able to access intensive support. Additionally,
this investment will support the creation of three four-bed
secure houses, as well as a further four-bed contingency
resource.
There are currently 82 contracted secure places provided by four
independent charitable organisations in Scotland – Rossie, Good
Shepherd Centre, Kibble and St. Mary's Kenmure.
Children's Minister Natalie Don-Innes said:
“It is imperative that we continuously improve how we care for
those children who have the greatest need of support. We
also need to address the challenges currently facing the secure
care system, and this funding will ensure that both these aims
can be met.
“Scotland is rightly proud of our unique, welfare based and
focused approach to care and justice for children and young
people. We want to build on that tradition and the current
strengths of the system, while embracing a future vision for
change as set out in the ‘Reimagining Secure Care' report. And
with that change, it is important that we maintain a resolute
focus in ensuring that children and young people's needs and
rights remain at the heart of this process.”
Background
This follows the publication of the Children and Young People's
Centre for Justice's (CYCJ) report on ‘Reimagining Secure Care'
which outlines a transformative vision for the future of secure
care, and broader children's care, in Scotland. The Scottish Government
has responded to this report.
More than 18% of the contracted beds are not available from the
independent charities offering them. This is due to various
factors, including reduced capacity at St Mary's Kenmure, the
complexity of individual children's needs which requires
additional staffing and an increase in the average length of stay
for those children sentence and remanded to secure care.
The Scottish Government has increased the number of available
beds in secure care by four since April 2025 to support restoring
capacity. This funding will further strengthen capacity for the
future.
