Youth Sector

Why are we focusing on trusted adults?

• Children who tend to be vulnerable often escalate through statutory thresholds and are likely not detected by services. This leads to greater harms as they accelerate whilst not having any support in place. These children can access a trusted adult who can begin to give them the support they need.  
• Lives are being cut short, often enough this is supported through serious case reviews as statutory systems are working under resource pressures. Youth workers as Trusted Adults can be a bedrock of support who are specialist at working with children with the highest levels of need. For example support for children is offered once a child has committed an offence, bringing them to the attention of the youth justice system. 
• Children who mistrust adults engage better when it’s on their own terms (attending is not mandatory but voluntary). This relies on building trusting relationships that children see as beneficial thus increasing their engagement.  
• In our approach to finding what works, we’ve strengthened the evidence base for youth work specific interventions, which are available on the YEF toolkit and summarised below. 
• It’s important that we work with the sector to continue building evidence in the youth sector, which will leave a legacy for both decision makers responsible for keeping children safe and delivery organisations that work directly with children. 

Why are we focusing on positive activities?

• Children access a large range of enrichment opportunities that are based in sport, the arts and the outdoors. We know that there are a number of programmes across ENgland and Wales that deliver programmes to reach children who live in neighbourhoods where this activity provides safe spaces for children to learn, build skills, improve their health and regulate their behaviour.  
• Coaches and other type of key staff are fundamental to providing these opportunities for children and build strong relationships through their offer. 
• The different settings allows for children with different interests to access these structured activities with a qualified adult. 
• These enrichment programmes are popular and key stakeholders would benefit from a strengthened evidence base. This includes key decisions makers such as Sport England, Sport Wales, the Arts Council and delivery organisations working closely with children. For example sports programmes is rated to have a high impact on reducing violence but currently there are significant evidence gaps, particularly in high-quality research from English/Welsh contexts. 

Changing the system

How should the education system change to better prevent violence?   

In December 2025 we’ll launch the system guidance. This will build on the new knowledge we have acquired from the research commissioned informed by the sector briefing findings from Aril 2024. The system guidance will set out to summarise 5-7 clear recommendations derived from the research of what we’ve found to work. The system guidance is likely to address senior leaders, policy leads in government departments, funders and commissioners of youth provision. The goal is to get the system guidance which summarises actionable evidence-based recommendations into the hands of key stakeholders who can respond by pushing these recommendations in the youth work system.  
 

A central feature of building guidance at YEF is undertaking consultation and challenge with key stakeholder groups. Our work this time is supported by an expert panel, including senior youth provision professionals, academics with expertise in youth work approaches and a YEF Youth Advisory Board member.  

What is YEF doing to build more evidence?

To gain knowledge of what works, we are evaluating our funded projects in the youth sector, of which are listed below.