Crime reduction plan ‘falls short’ for young people, NYA says
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, July 29, 2021
The government’s new crime reduction strategy “falls short” of supporting young people away from criminal activity, the National Youth Agency (NYA) has said.
Home Secretary Priti Patel’s Beating Crime Plan offers £17m for Violence Reduction Units, including funding for specialist youth workers and programmes which embed youth workers in A&E.
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It also proposes “investing in the future of young people and intervening early to divert them away from a life of crime” through the £200m Youth Endowment Fund and investment in schools and alternative provision to support young people at risk of becoming involved in crime.
However, the NYA has said more needs to be done to support young people in the community, including funding to train and recruit 10,000 new qualified youth workers, 40,000 trained adult volunteers and 20,000 young people up-skilled as entry-level youth workers.
It is also calling for a named police officer for each neighbourhood partnered with a named, qualified youth worker and increased ringfenced funding for local authority youth services.
Communities must “work with and listen to young people, as part of the solution not always the problem; we must learn the lessons of marginalising young people’s views and experiences”, the NYA states.
Abbee McLatchie, NYA director for youth work, said: “It is critical that there is a major programme of investment in youth work. It is no coincidence that a loss of youth services over the last decade has led to increased concerns, fears and levels of crime across communities.
“Qualified youth workers have specialist skills and experience, working alongside schools and colleges, social care, policing and youth justice. Yet there simply aren’t enough to go around.
“The erosion of youth services and lack of coordination has exposed young people and their families to gangs, exploitation, trauma and isolation and lack of support in their mental health, addiction or safeguarding. A targeted response to serious violence is of course welcome but to break the cycle, to prevent and reduce crime, means getting in early – working with young people, rather than seeing them as a problem to fix.”