Youth Custody Estate UK 2026: YOIs, STCs and Staff Pay

In shortUnder-18s are held in the Youth Custody Service estate, separate from adults; young adults aged 18 to 20 are held in adult-estate YOIs or prisons.

In England and Wales, children (under 18) sentenced or remanded to custody are held in a separate estate from adults. The Youth Custody Service, launched in April 2017, runs or oversees it within HMPPS.

The workforce statistics guide lists a Youth Custody Estate region as one of the official prison regions, and the YCS is also one of the four employee groupings in the workforce release, with 1,333 FTE at 30 June 2026.

It helps to separate the two age groups you will see in the data. The sections below take each group in turn.

Young offender institutions (YOIs)

Prison-style establishments for young people.

Secure training centres (STCs)

A separate model: Oakhill is the one remaining in the data used for this guide, and Medway STC closed in March 2020.

Secure Children's Homes

The YCS has oversight of eight.

Secure schools

A newer model, not researched for this guide beyond the fact that they exist as a policy. Nothing about their operation is stated here, so check GOV.UK for current information.

In shortThe youth estate is very small: 273 held against a useable operational capacity of 384 on 28 September 2026, so a few admissions or releases move the percentages noticeably.

• Youth custody population273HMPPS weekly bulletin, 28 September 2026
• Useable operational capacity384Same bulletin
• Headroom111Operating margin 60

The HMPPS weekly bulletin of 28 September 2026 gives the Youth Custody Service population as 273 and the useable operational capacity as 384, so headroom is 111, with an operating margin of 60. By contrast, the female estate has 3,407 held and the adult male estate 83,819.

By establishment the monthly bulletin of 24 August 2026 gives the following in the dataset:

A population well below capacity does not by itself mean a calm estate or generous staffing. Capacity is operational capacity as defined in the bulletin, and the estate's size reflects sentencing, remand and policy decisions that are outside the scope of this guide. For the adult picture see prison capacity crisis explained.

• HMYOI Feltham: 476 against 553 (the whole site, including Feltham B for adults).
• HMYOI Werrington: 90 against 118.
• HMYOI Wetherby: 98 against 154.
• Parc is reported as a single site of 1,849 capacity, so the youth unit is not separable.

In shortOn the YCS Performance Tool 25.0% (Feltham A), 37.5% (Werrington) and 31.3% (Wetherby) of indicators met expectations; this is not the 1 to 4 prison rating.

• Feltham A25.0%Of YCS indicators met expectations
• Werrington (Staffordshire)37.5%Of YCS indicators met expectations
• Wetherby (Yorkshire)31.3%Of YCS indicators met expectations

HMYOI Feltham is two units under one name: Feltham A is a YOI for boys aged 15 to 18, and Feltham B is a Category C prison and YOI for men over 18.

The dataset records Feltham B as rated "serious concern" in the 2025/26 performance ratings, while for Feltham A the YCS annex uses a different tool.

Those YCS percentages are the proportion of indicators in the YCS Performance Tool that met expectations; they are explicitly not the 1 to 4 prison performance rating, and the publication cautions that framework changes limit comparisons across years. I report them because they are the published numbers, not because they rank anyone's work.

Inspectorate reports linked from each prison's page give the detailed picture. Staffing shows a similar pattern of gaps. At 30 June 2026 Band 3 to 5 FTE against hours-adjusted target was:

• 411 vs 450 (-39) at Feltham (whole site).
• 138 vs 170 (-31) at Werrington.
• 227 vs 278 (-51) at Wetherby. Its gap of 51 was one of the largest in the officer staffing annex.

In shortParc YOI and Oakhill are privately run, so the employer is the operator, not HMPPS, and pay is not on HMPPS bands.

Parc YOI, Bridgend

A privately run prison and young offender institution; the GOV.UK establishment page last updated on 10 November 2023 names G4S, and HMIP's June 2026 report refers to G4S as well. Within it, Parc YOI holds children aged 15 to 18 and is inspected separately (by HMIP and Estyn) as HMYOI Parc. It is the only Welsh establishment holding children among the sources used here. See HMP & YOI Parc.

Oakhill Secure Training Centre

The private secure training centre in the YCS estate. HMIP reported on Oakhill in the last month, per the research notes, but I have not reviewed the report for this guide. As the operator is not named in the sources used, none is stated. A secure training centre is a different model from a YOI, but details of its staffing, regime and pay are not covered by any source I verified.

In shortYoung adults aged 18 to 20 are not in the YCS, and a "YOI" in a prison's name does not make it a youth custody site.

Young adults are not in the YCS. The framework treats young offenders aged 18 to 20 in YOIs under "closed" or "open" conditions, without a B or C split. In practice many adult prisons are designated as YOIs as well, as these examples show:

The Scottish and Northern Irish sites are not YCS sites and the E&W pay bands do not apply there. The age bands, categories and procedures in the devolved nations are not covered by the sources checked.

• HMP & YOI Brinsford near Wolverhampton is described by GOV.UK as a prison and YOI for men aged 18 to 21.
• HMP & YOI Swinfen Hall in Staffordshire is described as a closed YOI and category C training prison specialising in young adults aged 18 to 25.
• Feltham B holds men over 18 on the same site as Feltham A.
• In Scotland, HMP & YOI Polmont is described in the dataset as the only prison holding young males aged 18 to 21.
• In Northern Ireland, Hydebank Wood College holds young people aged 18 to 21.

In shortHMPPS-employed staff are on the national Fair and Sustainable structure: Feltham is outer London with a £2,000 supplement, Werrington and Wetherby are national zone, and no dated figure exists for youth justice workers.

• Feltham, first point£38,840Outer London, 37h, including unsocial hours
• Feltham with supplement£40,840Before tax; non-pensionable, can be withdrawn
• Werrington and Wetherby£34,928 to £36,778National zone, 37h; no listed supplement

For HMPPS-employed staff in England and Wales the pay structure is the national Fair and Sustainable one. Contract hours matter more than the site: longer hours pay more, and the full table is in the pay bands guide.

I have not found a published, dated pay figure for the youth justice worker role, so none is stated. The careers site says youth justice workers are paid their full wage from day one of training.

• HMYOI Feltham is in the outer London pay zone and is on the HMPPS market supplement list at £2,000 a year for Band 3 officers.
• On the 37 hour contract, outer London Band 3 pay including unsocial hours is £38,840, £40,199 or £40,896, and with the supplement the first point is £40,840 before tax. The supplement is non-pensionable and can be withdrawn.
• HMYOI Werrington and HMYOI Wetherby are national pay zone with no listed supplement. That means £34,928 to £36,778 on the same 37 hour basis.

In shortThe youth justice worker role has 9 weeks of training with full wages from day one; several other details were not re-verified, so confirm them against the live advert.

• Training9 weeksLikely away from home, expenses paid
• Pay in trainingFull wagesFrom day one, per the careers site
• Probation12 monthsA Level 4 qualification is offered after it (earlier research)

On the HMPPS careers site the role working with children and young people in custody is called a youth justice worker. The training page says it is 9 weeks, specialising in work with children and young people in custody, with full wages from day one.

Training covers de-escalation and restraint (MMPR), youth custody procedures and "youth specific interventions including motivational interviewing, restorative justice and trauma-informed approaches", and is likely to take place away from home with expenses paid.

Other details come from the site's earlier research rather than the training page I opened. I could not re-verify every one of these on the day, so confirm them against the live advert:

• Applicants must be 18 or over, meet the Civil Service nationality rules, pass medical, fitness, eyesight and hearing standards, and pass a DBS check.
• The Prison Service vetting instruction's mandatory table shows all staff in the young people's estate need an enhanced check plus DBS.
• A Level 4 qualification is offered after the 12-month probation.

1. Check the live advert on the official HMPPS recruitment site for the establishment and role title.
2. Read the eligibility, nationality and vetting requirements, including DBS.
3. Prepare for the online assessment centre and the medical, eyesight and hearing standards.
4. Plan for training away from home; expenses are paid and full pay starts on day one.
5. Use the vetting checker and recruitment timeline to set expectations.

In shortConfirm the employer first, then the inspection report, YCS indicators and staffing, then the nature of the work itself.