Detached youth work aims to engage with young people ‘where they are at’, providing youth work in non-institutional settings. These settings are usually places that young people have chosen to be, such as on the street, in parks, shopping centres, fast food outlets or other community spaces. Rather than serving children in a youth club, school, or college, detached youth work meets children out in the community.

The frequency and duration of detached youth work can vary, and activities may include building relationships with young people, providing guidance and information, arranging sport and cultural activities and signposting to other support. It is a flexible and youth-centred approach, adapting to the needs of specific children.

Detached youth work is delivered by youth organisations of many types, such as local authority youth services, charities and social enterprises, faith groups, health agencies and youth justice services. It also has a variety of different aims, including building the relationship between young people and their local communities, safeguarding vulnerable children from abuse and exploitation, supporting young people’s wellbeing and helping them to make positive choices. Detached youth work is also often commissioned in response to concerns about anti-social behaviour or perceptions of criminal activity.