The updated London Protocol [1] sets out commitments to reduce the unnecessary criminalisation of children looked after and care leavers. It extends its scope to include care leavers aged up to 25 and embeds Child First principles across youth and adult justice responses.
Details
The Protocol updates the pan‑London agreement first published in 2021, following the Department for Education’s National Protocol on reducing unnecessary criminalisation. It was refreshed in 2024/25 through consultation and co‑production with statutory agencies and care‑experienced children and young adults.
The Protocol applies to children looked after and care leavers, including those aged 18–25. It adopts a broad understanding of criminalisation, encompassing both formal criminal justice outcomes and practices that escalate behaviour or lead to unnecessary police involvement. The central guiding question is: ‘Would this response be good enough for my child?’
Underpinned by a Child First approach, the Protocol expects decision‑makers to recognise children’s distinct needs, vulnerabilities and developmental immaturity and, where appropriate, to apply these principles to young adult care leavers. Core commitments include:
- avoiding unnecessary criminalisation, particularly in response to low‑level behaviour in care settings;
- prioritising prevention at all stages of the justice process;
- ensuring that a child’s or young adult’s care status is identified and considered in decision‑making; and
- using trauma‑informed and restorative approaches, recognising the impact of adverse childhood experiences, exploitation, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and neurodivergence.
The Protocol sets expectations for Local Authorities, care providers, police, Youth Justice Services, the Crown Prosecution Service, courts, probation, health and education partners, emphasising shared corporate parenting responsibilities.
A three‑tier framework guides responses to incidents in care settings:
- Level 1: low‑level behaviour to be managed internally without police involvement;
- Level 2: context‑dependent incidents requiring proportionate, case‑specific decision‑making; and
- Level 3: incidents involving serious harm or risk that must be reported to the police.
Arrest and prosecution are identified as measures of last resort. Local oversight sits with Corporate Parenting Boards, with pan‑London governance through the London Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Executive.
Commentary
The inclusion of care leavers aged 18–25 marks an important development, providing a framework for resisting the abrupt withdrawal of child‑centred, protective approaches at the age of 18. For practitioners, the Protocol is a valuable advocacy tool. It strengthens arguments against police involvement in low‑level incidents linked to trauma, placement instability or unmet need, and supports representations on diversion, public interest and sentencing that properly reflect care experience, vulnerability and developmental immaturity, including in adult courts.
The Protocol’s emphasis on language, recording and centering children’s voices is particularly significant in addressing disproportionality affecting Black, Brown and Racialised children, children with SEND and those subject to adultification. It provides a benchmark against which professional responses to children looked after and care leavers should be assessed and, where necessary, challenged.
Footnote
- Reducing Criminalisation of Children Looked After and Care Leavers: A Protocol for London. Available here: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/mopac-guidance-and-resources/reducing-criminalisation-children-looked-after-and-care-leavers