Strictly-Orthodox Jewish community representatives are facing claims they “refuse to engage” with local authorities in Hackney over growing concerns about safeguarding issues at yeshivas in the London borough.
Leaders of Hackney’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Commission (CYPSC) have now written to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson warning there is a “real and significant risk” to the safeguarding of a rising number of boys from Charedi families.
They warn they are being withdrawn from independent schools and placed in Yeshivas from the age of 12 “where they receive only religious instruction.”
Despite making attempts to meet with those running the Yeshivas and with leaders of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC), with a “safeguarding support offer” the Commission has been snubbed.
Charedi protesters outside parliament as Schools Bill debated
Writing to the Education Secretary after its most recent review in December, CYPSC co-chairs councillor Sophie Conway and cllr Margaret Gordon concluded that “even with a clear strategy, sound intelligence and strong inter-agency collaboration, local efforts to address the safeguarding risks within unregistered education settings (UES) are limited, particularly when the operators of such establishments refuse to engage”.
A further report delivered to Hackney Council at the end of last year by the Commission noted:”Efforts have been ongoing to engage with Orthodox Jewish representative bodies regarding safeguarding practice in UES and ensure we have assurance as to those arrangements.
“However, these have not been successful at bringing about satisfactory engagement with themselves to provide the necessary assurance we seek.”
Letter to Education Secretary warning that Charedi leaders are refusing to engage with authorities in Hackney over concerns about Yeshivas
The damning report said that as a result of inadequate legislative provisions, oversight, and enforcement action, over 1,500 children aged 12 and over were “at risk” as the settings in which they were being taught are out of “line of sight” of safeguarding, both in terms of the narrow religious curriculum they offered, and also by health and safety factors as a result of poor conditions.
Ofsted officials, along with those from the police, fire bridge had been involved in investigations into the unregistered settings, with at least two new Yeshivas emerging in the borough during the year 2023-24.
The Commission confirmed that in December 2024, a total of 1,586 children and young people, predominantly from the strictly-Orthodox community, were known to be at unregistered settings in the borough.
This is an 8.65 percent increase on the 1,456 figure recorded for last April.
The Commission added: “In Hackney, the vast majority of children we believe to attend UES are teenage boys within the Orthodox Jewish community, who are withdrawn from a school where they receive a wider curriculum at aged 12, and placed in a Yeshiva where they receive only religious instruction.”
They have also confirmed that those running unregistered Yeshivas have in the past deliberately tried to evade detection by quickly moving the UES somewhere else after being identified.
The report also noted how community specific sessions set up to deliver safeguarding training for yeshivas and Orthodox Jewish settings “were not attended”.
This was in stark contrast to similar sessions set up “to deliver attendance training for our Charedi independent schools which were very well attended.”
Confirming there was evidence of children disappearing from the schools register, the Commission reported: “The typical pattern in the number of children believed to be attending UESs in Hackney, the number increases in the autumn term when independent schools report large numbers of children electively home educating, and then decreases at the end of the summer term when the Y11 cohort are removed from the register,” added the report.
It also said known families of those at unregistered settings “receive a wellbeing visit, an offer of support to ensure they are providing a suitable, efficient and full time education for their child (which is typically refused) and an annual safeguarding home visit , with follow up written contact to those families officers are unable to see or meet with.”
Bridget Phillipson visits JFS school
The report stressed it is “important to be clear on the distinction between UES and illegal/unregistered schools.”
The latter deliver a full time education to children of compulsory school age, and a curriculum that is broad enough for the setting to constitute a school.
They have been widespread claims of teenagers at Yeshivas being left unable to speak fluent English by the age of 16, as they are taught exclusively in Yiddish and only study scripture.
They are not entered for GCSEs or for other qualifications either.
As such, these fall within the regulatory powers of Ofsted and so there is a statutory response available to local authorities on identifying them.
And while UES provide a ‘full-time’ education to children of compulsory school age, they “teach a curriculum that is too narrow for the setting to constitute a ‘school’”.
The consequence is that they cannot be registered in the same way that schools are.
“This was and remains a significant issue of concern for the safeguarding partners of the CHSCP,” added the report.
Outline of December 2024 report to Hackney Council on Yeshivas
With the government’s Schools Bill working its way through parliament, the Education Secretary is urged by the commission to make sure legislation is updated to ensure that “UES fall within the established definition of a school” which will give “local authorities (and other regulatory partners) the powers to act where and when they are identified.”
The letter to Phillipson, sent on January 10th, says such a move will “ensure children in attendance at UES enjoy the same health and safety and safeguarding protections as any other child attending any other school, namely, taught by staff who have been fully DBS checked, that buildings fully comply with all planning, fire and health and safety regulations and the curriculum conforms to independent school regulations.”
Allegations that Charedi leaders have failed to engage with local authorities emerged as they attempt to launch a public relations effort aimed at persuading the wider mainstream Jewish community, along with politicians, that Yeshivas are worth defending.
Writing for Jewish News, Shimon Cohen, a consultant for the Yeshiva Liaison Committee (YLC), which operates under the auspices of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC), said: “Yeshivas have been the heartbeat of Jewish learning, shaping generations with values of lifelong religious engagement, ethical responsibility, and community service.
“These institutions foster fluency in multiple languages, sharpen analytical thinking, and provide mentorship and pastoral care. They are not schools.”
He said those behind Yeshivas were now the victims of “a deeply misguided campaign, even crusade, has been waged in Westminster and in the media, to undermine yeshivas through misinformation.”
Cohen added: “The greatest sadness, as if that isn’t sad enough, is that this campaign, it seems, is being led in part by Jewish groups.”
Rabbi Binyomin Stren, president of the UOHC, also claimed: “We recognise the need for government action to support vulnerable children, especially since the Covid pandemic.
“However our children are neither vulnerable nor at risk and we share our concerns with other groups regarding this bill.”
Jewish News has contacted a spokesperson for the Yeshivas and the UOHC over claims they are refusing to engage with authorities in Hackney.
We have also contacted the Department for Education for comment.
