News and opinion
Find out more about the latest news and developments relating to the Youth Endowment Fund and our work.
- Blog
Blog:From frontline policing to prevention: Why evidence-informed policing matters for children
From 999 response to systems change After 15 years as a Metropolitan Police Service officer, I joined the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) last year as Change Lead for Policing. During my policing career I worked in frontline 999 response, as a Youth Justice Officer and in organised crime. I also went on secondment to the… - News
News:YEF invests £2.1m to test school programmes tackling relationship and gender-based violence
The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) is investing £2.1 million to expand and rigorously test two school-based programmes to prevent relationship and gender-based violence. Last year, the Department for Education updated statutory guidance for schools on relationships, sex and health education, with a greater focus on online harm and tackling misogyny. This was followed by the government’s strategy to halve violence against women and girls, which requires every secondary school… - Blog
Blog:Insights into Action: Using EPIC to plan for practice change
51% of headteachers have reported to YEF that they are not confident in identifying and delivering evidence-based interventions for preventing children’s involvement in violence. To better enable awareness and engagement of this evidence, YEF launched the Education Practice Insight Creator (EPIC) in July 2025, with over 250 schools having completed it so far. EPIC is a free, digital self-assessment tool designed to help education leaders… - Blog
Blog:Progress, not perfection: why mixed evaluation results still move us forward
Finding what works isn't about chasing perfect results, but reducing guesswork. Each result better informs us to prevent violence. - Blog
Blog:New Government guidance on children found with knives: implications for Youth Justice Services
Last week, the Government published guidance on what Police, Youth Justice Services (YJSs) and other agencies should do when a child is found in possession of a knife. The guidance emphasises the importance of timely intervention for children – a key tenant of YEF’s Diversion Practice Guidance. The Government guidance also sets out that YJSs should make use of the YEF Toolkit, stating that ‘Interventions should… - Blog
Blog:Teenage homicides in England and Wales fall to a decade low
At the Youth Endowment Fund, we’re working towards a world where all children can live a life free from violence. Every year, children across England and Wales are tragically killed in knife attacks or other forms of violence. However, last figures published from the Homicide Index suggest we’re moving rapidly in the right direction, with… - Blog
Blog:Trusted Adults Matter: PAC Wales and the Trusted Adult Walk
At Peer Action Collective (PAC) Wales, we value the role trusted adults play in young people’s lives. One consistent adult who listens, shows empathy, and follows through shapes how a young person seeks help and makes decisions. For many young people, trust takes time. It grows through everyday actions. When adults get this right, young people feel safe enough to speak… - Blog
Blog:Insights from YEF’s first systematic review of UK qualitative research
Today, the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) has published the first systematic review of UK based qualitative research exploring children and young people’s accounts of their involvement in violence. At YEF, we exist to prevent children and young people from becoming involved in violence. To do that, we need to understand the reasons why children and young people become… - Blog
Blog:Bridging Evidence and Education Practice
Why education is central to preventing violence Our vision of a world where no child becomes involved in violence relies on strong, proactive partnerships with education leaders, practitioners, and policymakers. Education is one of our seven priority sectors because schools and colleges are uniquely placed to make a difference. Every day, education settings safeguard children,… - Blog
Blog:Behind the numbers: the real impact of exploitation and gangs
Children who identify as being in gangs are 62 times more likely to be seriously injured and need hospital treatment than their peers. For James*, that risk wasn’t a statistic — it was his daily reality. James was criminally exploited for six years. He describes that period as living in constant uncertainty — afraid of… - News
News:One in four teens turn to AI chatbots for mental health support, study finds
One in four teenage children have turned to AI chatbots for mental health support, new research reveals — a sign of both the widespread need for support and the changing ways young people are seeking it. The research comes from the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), which surveyed nearly 11,000 children aged 13 to 17 in England and Wales for… - News
News:One in every classroom: new research reveals the scale of abuse in teen relationships
The equivalent of one teenage child in every classroom reports having been subjected to physical or sexual abuse in a romantic relationship in the past year, according to new research. A survey of nearly 11,000 young people aged 13 to 17 found that 28% had been in a relationship in the past 12 months. Of those, 15% said they’d experienced physical or sexual abuse — including…
