Action
Divert, created in 2015 by charity Bounce Back, uses specially-trained youth workers to build trusted relationships with young adults, starting in the hours following their arrest.
In this partnership with the Metropolitan Police, youth work coaches attend the custody suite to offer non-judgmental, practical support to the young person for as long as needed.
They work together on a plan to move away from criminal involvement, with the possibility of connection to a wide network of partner organisations including training providers.
Offences that qualify for a referral range from theft, drugs and minor assault to more serious violence and assault – though in these cases statutory referrals are also made. A further caveat is that the young person is in custody for the first or second time.
Lib Peck, director of the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), explains that the intervention happens at a key “reachable, teachable moment” of crisis following an arrest, when a trusted adult relationship is of the utmost importance.
Peck says: “If a young person finds themselves in a custody suite - that is a moment of crisis. They have time to reflect on how they’ve got there and there’s nothing as powerful as sitting in that cell and experiencing that.
“If you feel very alienated from a system, then you wouldn’t know where to go for help.
“A youth worker, somebody who is experienced in talking and working with young people, comes in and tries to start offering a chance for a conversation and support.”
All 12 of the Metropolitan Police’s Basic Command Units (BCUs) have youth worker coverage, with most of them based at the busiest police stations.
Despite the coaches being co-located under the same roof as police officers, conversations with them are in-confidence and independent of police and any criminal proceedings.
Peck says: “The police have been very supportive of the scheme, but the youth workers aren’t in any other way connected to the police. That’s important because seeing them as somebody independent is key for the young person.
“Young people I’ve spoken to over the years aren’t immediately receptive to that offer, but over time, the persistence and patience of the youth worker means they are more likely to become receptive and then feel there’s something in that relationship for them.
“If they walk away, they’ve got details to come back to.”
The intervention is built bespoke around the participants’ own interests and self-identified areas of need, and may involve CV development, counseling, involvement in sport or music, building supportive peer networks, or connecting with training providers.
Peck is hopeful of seeing more support in the autumn Budget to enable the VRU to continue funding the project.
Impact
Due to high success rates seen by the scheme, the VRU has increased funding over the last three years to more than £3mn allowing expansion to all 12 BCUs.
During this time, 4,393 young people have been approached in custody, with 1,506 in the last year (2023/24). Two-thirds of these engaged sustainably with the service.
Peck says: “What we know from all the evidence, not just with this scheme, is that a young person is automatically in a better place and much more resilient to being caught up in violence if they are engaged.”
Peck recounts her visit to Lewisham Police Station earlier this year, where she met four young people who had benefited from Divert. Despite two of them having received custodial sentences, all four were in meaningful employment.
“When they came out of prison they went back to those youth workers to ask for support – apparently the first call they made was to Divert, because of the connection that had been made in the custody suite,” says Peck.
“It was overwhelming being in the room, listening to young people who have had a tough time, who very often are from tough backgrounds, have got into the wrong kind of thing, and don’t know how to get out of it.
“They had found support in that youth worker who had really listened to them, not been prescriptive about what they needed to do, listened to their interests and helped them to find employment.”
Sister project
Since being created in 2020, the Engage project, which has received £5.3m from the VRU, aims to increase school attendance among 10- to 17-year-olds who are arrested.
Youth workers under the partnership between local authority children’s services, the Met Police and NHS England, have approached 5,244 children over the last three years, of which 3,631 were in the last year (2023/24).
Some 63% of young people have engaged and gone on to receive community-based support, including one-to-one mentoring.
