YISPs may become 'welfare services'

The government-backed research evaluated 13 pilot youth inclusion and support panels (YISPs) across England.

YISPs are multi-agency planning groups that aim to prevent anti-social behaviour and offending by eight- to 13-year-olds who are considered at high risk.

"Despite promising findings from the national evaluation, there is a danger that YISP intervention could become just another kind of long-term welfare service," the report said. "The evidence would suggest that more needs to be done to determine and uphold appropriate intervention."

The report also found that in someareas YISP staff felt they had been used as a 'dumping ground' for hard cases that other agencies had not been able to handle.

The study was carried out by the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Newcastle Centre for Family Studies on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

- www.dcsf.gov.uk.