Who is the resource for?

This resource is for local violence prevention leaders, including those working in Violence Reduction Units, Community Safety Partnerships and Local Children’s Safeguarding Partnerships. 

How can the resource help?

The resource helps you focus support where it’s most urgently needed by informing answers to four questions:

1. Do you understand children’s needs in your area?
2. Does your current provision support the children who most urgently need your help?
3. Do you have effective pathways for identifying the most vulnerable children and connecting them to support?
4. Are services for children affected by violence designed to respond to their needs?

The next section looks at each of the questions in turn.

1. Do you understand children’s needs in your area?

This resource highlights the groups of children who are more vulnerable to engaging in violence. Do you know which of these needs are common in your area? For example, children who are victims of criminal exploitation are particularly vulnerable to involvement in violence, with 51% reporting they have engaged in serious violence. Do you know how prevalent criminal exploitation is in your area and is it considered by your strategic needs assessment?

2. Does your current provision support the children who most urgently need your help?

Use this resource to assess whether your services and programmes are sufficient for the groups of children reporting the highest levels of violence involvement. Ask two questions:

• Are programmes reaching the right children? If a commissioned programme is intended to support children with the greatest vulnerability to violence, does it work with the groups in this resource who report high levels of violence engagement? For example, a targeted mentoring programme might focus on children who have been excluded from school or have been arrested, rather than groups reporting much lower levels of violence engagement.
• Is there sufficient investment in the services working with highly vulnerable children? Use the resource to consider whether additional investment may be needed in services supporting groups with the highest levels of violence engagement. For example, this might include investing violence prevention funding in specialist exploitation teams operating locally.

Not all violence prevention activity should focus on the most urgent needs. An effective violence prevention strategy also involves primary prevention and early intervention. See ‘Using the Which Children resource responsibly’ for more about developing a balanced strategy.

3. Do you have effective pathways for identifying the most vulnerable children and connecting them to support?

This resource highlights groups of children who are most vulnerable to involvement in violence. It’s essential that these children receive timely and effective support. Do you have the right pathways in place to ensure that they do? Is there clarity on the pathway through which children are identified, referred, prioritised for support, and offered support where appropriate?

Use this resource to review how highly vulnerable groups of children are identified and referred into support in the local system. Children may be referred directly to a service or programme, or to a multi-agency panel, such as a Young Futures Panel. You can use the resource to review whether your current referral routes are sufficient. In many areas, referrals into Young Futures Panels rely on police contact with children. The resource identifies other groups who are highly vulnerable. For example, 37% of children who were a victim of serious violence also reported engaging in serious violence themselves. You could consider adding a new referral route into your Young Futures Panel from health services, such as A&E departments or urgent care centres, when they encounter children with a violence-related injury. You may also identify other local partners who work with groups highlighted in the resource as being highly vulnerable to violence engagement. Could they provide additional referral routes? Remember to test and refine any new referral routes in the local system. This helps ensure that they don’t identify too many children, miss important groups or lead to children being referred to programmes that are not suitable for their needs.

4. Are services for children affected by violence designed to respond to their needs?

Children who engage in serious violence often face significant vulnerability and victimisation. Are your services for these children designed to recognise and respond to their needs? This resource shows how some needs are common amongst children who engage in serious violence, so can inform decisions about how to design services.

For example, 68% of children who report engaging in serious violence have experienced physical abuse at home and 60% have received support for special educational needs. Heads of Youth justice services can use the resource to ensure practitioners can respond appropriately to common needs and that clear referral routes to specialist support are in place. This might include providing training for practitioners to adapt sessions for children with special educational needs, including speech, language and communication needs, by using plainer language, visual aids, shorter sessions or other adjustments.