Responding to Neurodivergence in the Youth Justic

10 the recent Schools White Paper ( Every Child Achieving and Thriving, 2026 ) and the parallel SEND consultation ( SEND reform: putting children and young people first ) must be accompanied by appropriate resources to support teachers in implementation. Work within the NHS should reduce lengthy waitlists for diagnosis and support, particularly targeting areas with waitlists for assessment exceeding 12 months. External accountability metrics for schools should be broadened to include and incentivise both high expectations and inclusive practice, while ensuring schools take an approach which embodies ‘our children, our responsibility’ (see Excluded Lives, 2025). Zero-tolerance behaviour policies must be actively discouraged or banned: the evidence base consistently shows they confer unique harm in children's pathways into the justice system. Reliance on zero-tolerance should be understood as a sign that a school is not yet equipped to shape positive behaviour by responding to children's underlying needs, rather than as a legitimate strategy. Schools should be resourced and supported to meet those needs, so that such approaches become unnecessary. The transdiagnostic data already collected from a young age (for example, the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile) should be mobilised to provide more support to the children who need it most, earlier in life. Alternative Provision (and particularly Pupil Referral Units) should be resourced to a standard that makes it a meaningful pathway to education and opportunity, rather than a 'holding cell' for children vulnerable to justice system contact. Children attending Alternative Provision should have access to the very best resources, and should not have their opportunities to take higher-level exams or access a wide curriculum limited, affording them equity of access to further education. Properly funded early-years support of the kind Sure Start Local Programmes once provided should be reinstated and given long-term investment. The new Best Start Family Hubs, for example, should have their longevity protected against changing cycles of government wherever possible. 7.4 Reform the budgeting and reinvestment architecture Budgeting systems in government should be redeveloped in a way that is cross- departmental and allows investment upstream (e.g. in education) to share in the savings produced downstream (e.g. in justice). This could be done using a justice reinvestment framework; under which, projected savings from reduced use of custody for children are quantified and reinvested into community-based projects for prevention. Evaluation of savings from prevention must be done over multiple years – the savings