At a meeting on 13 August 2025, Doncaster Council's cabinet convened to discuss key issues affecting the borough, including the Youth Justice Plan 2025/26 and the Doncaster Tenancy Strategy 2025. The cabinet supported the Youth Justice Plan for submission to the full council, and endorsed the new Tenancy Strategy with proposed changes.

Youth Justice Plan 2025/26

The Cabinet supported the Youth Justice Plan (YJP) 2025/26 for submission to the full council. The plan, required by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, outlines the work of the Youth Justice Service (YJS) in Doncaster and is submitted annually to the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales.

Councillor Sue Farmer, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families, presented the plan, highlighting several key initiatives and outcomes:

• Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Virtual Reality Programme: The YJS launched a new ASB Virtual Reality programme through its Prevention Service, EPIC¹. This programme aims to help young people understand the impact of ASB through immersive, realistic scenarios.
• Turnaround Programme: The council has successfully achieved targets for the Turnaround Programme, a government initiative to tackle crime and ASB among young people at risk of entering the criminal justice system. Re-offending rates among this group are reported to be extremely low.
• Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) Service: Recognising the increased prevalence of harmful sexual behaviour, particularly among boys, the YJS provides an in-house HSB service to assess risk and prevent future harmful behaviour.
• Strategic Partnership with RDaSH: A strategic partnership has been formed with Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) to bring a substance misuse support specialist into the YJS, aiming for a more consistent and effective service for young people.
• Buddi Tag System: The YJS is trialling a Buddi Tag system to track the whereabouts of young people, with their permission, to address Child Criminal Exploitation and prevent crime.
• Performance: In the past year, there has been strong performance in preventing children from entering the criminal justice system, with 98% of children receiving a diversionary outcome not re-offending. While the annualised re-offending rate for those not diverted was 32.5%, the quarterly cohort showed a reduction to 23.1%. No child received a custodial sentence over the past year, placing Doncaster among the highest-performing areas in England and Wales.

Cabinet members commended the report, recognising the outstanding work and positive outcomes achieved by the YJS and the young people across the borough.

Doncaster Tenancy Strategy 2025

The Cabinet endorsed the new Doncaster Tenancy Strategy 2025, presented by Councillor Glyn Jones, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Environment, Housing and Safer Communities. The strategy, which guides registered social housing providers in formulating their tenancy policies, was updated to include a key change regarding fixed-term tenancies.

The Tenancy Strategy covers several key areas:

• Types of tenancies: The strategy outlines the types of tenancies that providers will offer.
• Circumstances for granting tenancies: It details the circumstances under which different types of tenancies will be granted.
• Fixed-term tenancies: It addresses the length of fixed-term tenancies, if applicable.
• Conditions for renewal or termination: It sets out the conditions for renewing or ending tenancies at the end of a fixed term.

The key change in the new strategy relates to fixed-term tenancies, which will now be 5-year fixed terms (continuously renewed) instead of being issued until the youngest child reaches 19 years of age. This change applies only to new St Leger Homes of Doncaster (SLHD) tenancies, with existing tenancies remaining unaffected. The aim is to ensure that properties are used by those who need them most, with tenants supported to move to suitable alternative properties when their needs change.

Councillor Glyn Jones made a statement regarding the decision, noting concerns about the potential impact of changes to the Council's Tenancy Agreement on family members of tenants who meet the qualifying criteria for successions². He requested that the author of the Tenancy Agreement report provide Cabinet with a range of options to mitigate any negative impacts and allow for informed decision-making on these issues.