Beyond the Headlines 2024 Summary

Introduction to the report

1: Children’s involvement in serious violence is higher than a decade ago, but it is now falling

Over the past decade, violence has worsened. The number of children and young people who lost their lives to violence last year is higher than 10 years ago, as is the number of children admitted to hospital for knife assaults.

In 2022/23, 99 young people aged 16–24 were victims of homicide, compared to 87 in 2012/13. In the same year, 467 children were treated in hospital for knife or sharp object injuries, a 47% increase from 2012/13’s 318 instances.

Homicides and knife assaults both showed notable increases in the mid-2010s, peaking in 2017/18 and 2018/19, respectively. Numbers have since declined, especially during the pandemic, but remain above levels seen a decade ago.

The number of children cautioned or convicted for violent offences shows a more positive picture, having fallen over the past decade. In 2022/23, there were 14,298 proven violent offences by 10–17-year-olds, nearly half the number from 2012/13. However, this downward trend is levelling off, and the recent rise in arrests of 10–17-year-olds for violent offences is concerning.

2: Some children are disproportionately affected.

Children from Black backgrounds are overrepresented at all levels of the justice system. A Black child is over twice as likely to be arrested, almost twice as likely to be cautioned or convicted and over four times as likely to be in custody relative to their share of the population (6%).

The overrepresentation of Black children in custody has worsened over the past decade. However, in the last two years, their share has fallen slightly. They now account for 26% of the custodial population of children in England and Wales, but this is still four percentage points higher than 10 years ago.

Boys are disproportionately affected by violence, a trend unchanged over the past decade. In 2022/23, males accounted for 83% of children cautioned or convicted for violent offences, 91% of hospital admissions for knife assaults, and 87% of homicide victims aged 16 to 24.

However, this does not diminish the severity of violence experienced by women and girls. In 2022/23, three out of four hospital admissions for sexual assault were females. And a partner or ex-partner was the principal suspect in nearly a third (32%) of homicides of female victims, compared to 3% of male victims.

Violence is geographically concentrated. More children are affected by violence in London, West Midlands and West Yorkshire than in other parts of the country. These areas consistently report the highest number of children convicted or cautioned for violent offences. But when we look at rate per head, children in areas including Nottinghamshire, West Yorkshire and North Wales are at a greater risk of being involved.

Violence is also concentrated in the poorest areas. Children living in the most deprived police force areas (10% highest rates of absolute poverty) are 2.5 times more likely to be exposed to violent crime compared to those in the bottom 10%.

3: The safety nets, services and sectors which support the most vulnerable are struggling.

As well as looking at levels of violence, we’ve set out to understand some of the broader issues affecting children and the challenges facing the professionals and services supporting them. We’ve chosen to track metrics for six key sectors involved in protecting children from violence.

Some sectors have seen improvements. In the youth justice sector, the proportion of children convicted of a crime who reoffended within 18 months has decreased over the last decade.

In policing, the youth sector, education, health and children’s services, our indicators paint a less positive picture. They show stretched services, financial pressures and increasing numbers of children in need of support.

Today, if you fall victim to a crime, the chances of it being successfully investigated are lower than a decade ago. In 2012/13, one in four (25%) recorded crimes led to a charge, summons or out-of-court disposal. By 2022/23, this figure had fallen to less than one in 10 (9%).

Over the last decade, spending on services for young people in England has halved – down by more than half a billion pounds since 2012/13 in real terms – and the number of youth clubs operating in local authorities fell by 44% between 2011/12 and 2018/19.

Post-Covid-19, schools are struggling to get children back into the classroom. The proportion of children missing 10% or more of their lessons reached 21% in 2022/23 (1.6 million pupils), compared to 11% pre-Covid (2018/19) and 14% a decade ago.

Even before the pandemic, referrals to NHS-funded mental health services were rising. In 2022/23, over a million children were referred, nearly double the number in 2016/17. NHS services are struggling to meet this demand.

The number of children being taken into the care of the local authorities in England has steadily climbed over the past decade, with the latest figures showing a 23% increase over 10 years. With more families struggling to cope, more support is needed to help looked after children in this particularly difficult phase of their lives.

4: However, despite these difficulties, there is growing evidence about what works to prevent violence.

Violence isn’t inevitable. Research shows that certain approaches, such as
mentoring, therapies and hot spots policing, can reduce children’s vulnerability to violence. But knowing what works is pointless unless it’s put into action and changes are made across systems.

To support the sectors key to keeping children safe – policing, the youth sector, education, health, children’s services, neighbourhoods and youth justice – we’ve created the YEF Toolkit.

To further help children and families access the most effective forms of support, we’re committed to providing sector-specific guidance aimed at empowering frontline practitioners and reforming the systems that impact how, when and why children are supported.

The first practice guidance to be published is for the education sector. It
recommends the most effective approaches that leaders in schools, colleges and alternative provision can take to keep children safe from violence, both inside and outside of school.

We’ve also published guidance aimed at improving support for children who are arrested. There’s strong evidence that providing targeted support to children who have committed low-level or first-time offences instead of taking them to court reduces the rates and severity of reoffending.