Hartlepool Youth Crime Prevention Funding Slashed by 50% Without Consultation...
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Cash Cut for Hartlepool Scheme Designed to Stop Children Becoming Criminals..
18th July 2026
A programme credited with keeping children out of Hartlepool’s criminal justice system has reportedly suffered a 50% funding cut by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, council papers have revealed….
Hartlepool Youth Justice Service says it was notified in March 2026 that its grant from the commissioner’s office would be slashed by half, despite the money being used to support a full-time worker involved in the town’s Triage programme.
According to the service, the decision was taken without any consultation with the Youth Justice Service and will add to mounting pressure on its wider budget.
The revelation is contained in Hartlepool’s draft Youth Justice Strategic Plan for 2026/27, which will be considered by the Safer Hartlepool Partnership when it meets on 23rd of July.
Scheme credited with keeping children out of court…
The Triage programme has operated in Hartlepool since 2009 and seeks to intervene before children become established within the criminal justice system.
Rather than automatically progressing eligible children towards prosecution, cautions or court proceedings, the programme can provide targeted intervention intended to address the causes of offending and prevent further criminal behaviour.
The Youth Justice Service says the scheme has been successful in diverting children away from the justice system and has made a significant contribution to reducing the number of first-time entrants. However, the grant from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner previously helped the service employ a full-time worker to contribute towards delivering the programme.
The strategic plan states:
“The decision to make such a significant cut was done so without consultation with the YJS.”
The service has challenged the reduction and says it is awaiting an opportunity to meet representatives from the commissioner’s office to discuss what it describes as “dis-investment in preventing children from entering the youth justice system”
Labour Crime Commissioner’s contribution falls to £19,000
Budget papers accompanying the plan show that the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner will provide £19,000 towards Hartlepool Youth Justice Service during 2026/27.
As the plan describes this as a 50% reduction, it indicates that the previous contribution was approximately £38,000.
The Youth Justice Service has a total proposed budget of £1.285 million for the year. Funding and contributions include:
£489,000 from the Youth Justice Board;
£417,000 from Hartlepool Borough Council;
£77,000 through the Turnaround grant;
£59,000 of in-kind support from Cleveland Police;
£33,000 from the Probation Service;
£6,000 of in-kind health support;
£19,000 from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner; and
£185,000 taken from reserves.
The use of £185,000 from reserves means temporary funding will account for more than 14% of the service’s total planned resources during the coming financial year.
Although the Youth Justice Service has welcomed confirmation that its core Youth Justice Board and Turnaround funding will continue on a multi-year basis, it warns that those grants represent a real-terms cash freeze.
It also faces increasing costs associated with speech and language therapy, unpredictable secure-remand placements and children presenting with increasingly complex needs.
Most children dealt with through diversion
The figures contained in the plan demonstrate the importance of diversionary work to the service’s overall caseload, where its claimed during 2025/26, The Hartlepool Youth Justice Service worked with 82 children. Of those, 66 were dealt with through Triage and another two through Triage 2.
A further nine received restorative interventions, while only five were dealt with through either a Youth Caution or Youth Conditional Caution.
That means more than four-fifths of the children supported by the service were dealt with through one of its Triage programmes rather than through more formal youth justice measures.
The number of children entering the youth justice system for the first time also fell from 30 during 2024/25 to 18 in 2025/26.
The service acknowledges that the previous year’s figure had been unusually affected by children involved in widespread violent disorder during 2024. Nevertheless, it also credits early intervention, Out of Court Resolution panels and the Turnaround programme with helping to prevent children progressing further into the system.
Cut comes amid continuing concerns
over serious violence on Teesside…
The funding reduction comes as the strategic plan identifies serious youth violence, criminal exploitation and County Lines activity as continuing risks in Hartlepool.
The service is also concerned about children re-offending and warns that those who repeatedly offend can become entrenched in the justice system, resulting in poorer outcomes later in their lives.
Among the priorities proposed for 2026/27 is sustaining the reduction in first-time entrants by ensuring that “creative strategies and services” remain available to prevent children becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour.
That stated ambition now sits alongside a decision to halve one of the grants directly supporting the town’s principal diversion programme with the papers not giving any explanation from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner about why the grant was reduced, what assessment was undertaken before the decision or whether alternative funding will be offered.
Members of the Safer Hartlepool Partnership are being asked to examine the draft plan before it returns to the Children’s Services Committee in November….
