Former Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield launches commission to halt the ‘conveyor belt’ of vulnerable children falling into the hands of gangs and criminals

Anne Longfield, former Children’s Commissioner for England, is today (Thursday) launching a major year-long independent commission to develop a new national system to stop the conveyor belt of vulnerable teenagers becoming involved in knife crime, serious violence, criminal gangs and the justice system.

The ‘Commission on Young Lives’ will devise a new and achievable national system of support, focused on preventing crisis and improving opportunities of vulnerable children at risk of getting into trouble with the law. It will look at how better to strengthen families, support children to stay in school, improve mental health support for children, protect children at risk and prevent children in care from becoming involved in violence, criminalisation and the wider criminal justice system.

The Commission comes amid concerns that the Covid pandemic provided new opportunities for the criminal exploitation of children who are vulnerable as a result of greater exposure to domestic violence, parental mental health problems and addiction issues during lockdown. Even before Covid hit in March 2020, almost 15,000 children had been referred to social services where gangs were a factor in their assessment in the previous year, a rise of 4,000 in twelve months.

Those working with vulnerable children are seeing the level of severity of problems become even higher – more domestic abuse, greater food poverty, a resurgence in knife crime and in teenagers turning up at A&E with stab wounds, more children struggling with mental health problems, with some unwilling to get back in to school. They warn that safeguarding incidents have become more extreme. Youth workers who before the pandemic were dealing with weekly new cases involving teenagers and serious violence, or in danger of exploitation, now talk about daily increases in demand.

Exclusive polling carried out by Public First for the ‘Commission on Young Lives’ of parents in England with children aged 5 to 18, also reveals the concerns many parents have about the impact of knife crime, gangs and drugs on their children.

• 60% of respondents to our poll of parents were concerned that their child could become a victim of knife crime or serious violence, while 59% were concerned that someone might attempt to sell drugs to their child.

• 78% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that children these days are at higher risk of being involved in violence or crime than when they were a child, and 61% of respondents felt youth violence had increased in the last 10 years.

• When respondents were shown a number of issues affecting children and asked which they were most concerned about, 29% chose youth violence or gangs negatively impacting their child, behind only the internet and social media (38%) and poor mental health (36%). This finding was replicated across different geographies, voting intentions, social classes, and age groups of children – showing how youth violence and gangs is a key issue for voters.

• 52% of respondents think government is ‘not really’ or ‘not at all’ prioritising preventing young people from getting involved in youth violence. This includes 49% of those who voted Conservative in 2019 (against 60% for Labour voters in 2019).

• When it comes to children in this country, 45% of respondents felt government should focus on addressing youth violence and crime, behind only mental health (49%) and ahead of issues such as poor educational attainment (26%). It was the top priority for 2019 Conservative voters (47%).

• When it comes to preventing youth crime/violence, 47% of parents of 5 to 18-year-olds want stricter punishment for criminals and 46% want to see greater investment in youth infrastructure.

The ‘Commission on Young Lives’ is hosted and supported by the Oasis Charitable Trust, who will soon begin running the first Ministry of Justice secure school – a ground-breaking therapeutic model for children in custody.

Oasis has decades of experience of working in and with communities, empowering families and vulnerable children, and already deliver housing, education, healthcare, training, youth work, family support and many other initiatives. Currently they work with young people in 42 local neighbourhoods in England and are responsible for 30,000 students in 53 schools, often in challenging communities.

The Commission also includes a national panel of experts and leaders with personal and professional insight and understanding of the issues and impact on the lives of young people and communities, and with extensive experience of delivering change in communities, services and in government. Panel members include Baroness Louise Casey, Rev. Steve Chalke (Founder of Oasis Charitable Trust), Junior Smart (Founder of the ‘SOS Project’ at St. Giles Trust), Martin Hewitt (Chair of the National Police Chiefs Council) and Kendra Houseman (Founder ‘Out of the Shadows’).

Anne Longfield, Chair of the ‘Commission on Young Lives’, launching the Commission, said:

“Covid has dealt a strong hand to the gangs and criminals who exploit vulnerable children. It has compounded the cocktail of risks like domestic violence, parental mental health problems, addiction issues, and not attending school that can see children falling off the radar and into danger.

“At the same time, the methods used to entice and trap teenagers into criminality are brutal and increasingly sophisticated.

“We are making it too easy for them to use our children.

“Society is struggling to know what to do, and the response is often disjointed, underfunded and uncoordinated. Yet this is an issue that many parents are deeply worried about, and they fear is getting worse.

“The Commission on Young Lives will develop systems of protection and support to help keep vulnerable children safe and inspire them to succeed. We will show how we can achieve better outcomes for marginalised children by providing affordable solutions to government and others.

“We need to start fighting back with coordinated national action that stops the conveyor belt of vulnerable children who are being groomed, abused and denied their chance to do well in life.”

Rev. Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Charitable Trust and a member of the Commission’s expert panel, said:

“Too many children continue to fall through the gaps between our various statutory systems and services. It seems that the more vulnerable a child is, the thinner the layers of support that are there for them in the first place. The pandemic many have magnified these issues, but it is society’s neglect that created them.

“Oasis has worked on the frontline with these children and families for more than 35 years. In that time, we’ve read the reports and adjusted to the language of successive governments – from ‘every child matters’ to ‘child first’, from ‘join-up thinking’ to ‘integrated frameworks’ – but witnessed little real progress.

“Oasis is hosting the ‘Commission on Young Lives’ and rather than being designed to reweigh the proverbial pig again, its task is different. Anne’s mission is to discover what is working down on the ground in local communities and to explore what can be scaled, replicated and built on to achieve the change that has for so long been denied to many children.”

Tulip Siddiq MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Children, said:

“The Conservatives have spent the last decade stripping away support for vulnerable children and young people. The Covid crisis has now ruthlessly exposed these weaknesses, leaving vulnerable young people exposed to abuse, neglect and criminal exploitation.

“Labour has set out an ambitious recovery plan for young people, delivering quality mental health support, new activities to keep young people engaged at the end of the school day and resources for schools to target interventions at kids who need most support. 

“The Conservatives must now recognise the damage their neglect of young people has caused and deliver the support every young person needs to reach their potential.”

The Commission on Young Lives will produce a series of interim reports over the coming months and a final report in Autumn 2022.

Public First surveyed 1,003 nationally representative parents of children aged 5-18 in England on their attitudes to youth violence, gangs and knife crime on behalf of the Commission on Young Lives.

• 60% of respondents were either somewhat or very concerned that their child could become a victim of knife crime or serious violence. 59% were either somewhat or very concerned that someone might attempt to sell drugs to their child. Whilst this was lower than the level of concern for children’s learning being negatively impacted by lockdowns (70%), spending too much time in front of screens/online (68%) and poor mental health (67%), it was higher than concern for unhealthy eating habits (55%) and their child carrying a knife (34%).
• When respondents were shown a number of issues affecting children and asked which they were most concerned about, 29% chose youth violence or gangs negatively impacting their child, behind only the internet and social media (38%) and poor mental health (36%). This finding was replicated across different geographies, voting intentions, social classes, and age groups of children – showing how youth violence and gangs is a key issue for voters.
• 45% of respondents felt government should focus on addressing youth violence / crime, and 44% answered the same for child poverty. The was behind only mental health (49%) and was ahead of issues such as bullying (34%) and poor educational attainment (26%). This raises the question of whether youth violence is getting a proportionate level of coverage in the national debate. This was also the top priority for Conservative voters in 2019, at 47%.
• Whilst understanding and awareness of levelling up as a concept may not be consistent between respondents, 49% of them would expect to see improvements in youth violence if given government support to ‘level up’ – behind only crime and policing (59%) and the same as jobs (49%). This shows a strong potential link between youth violence and levelling up – with this score putting it ahead of education, homelessness, the high street, and transport.
• 52% of respondents think government is ‘not really’ or ‘not at all’ prioritising preventing young people from getting involved in youth violence. This includes 49% of those who voted Conservative in 2019 (against 60% for Labour voters in 2019).
• 78% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that children these days are at higher risk of being involved in violence or crime than when they were a child.
• When looking at regional breakdowns, youth violence / gangs comes top of concerns for parents in London (where 36% of parents cite it), compared to a much lower proportion in regions such as the South East (21%) and South West (25%). This concern was also relatively high in the North West, where 35% of parents said they were concerned about it affecting their child, ahead of issues such as poor mental health. Parents in urban areas were also much more likely to be concerned about this (34%) than those in large or small towns (26% and 25% respectively).
• Similarly, on the question around what government should focus on addressing, there was also regional disparity, with London having the highest rate of parents thinking that the Government should focus on addressing youth violence / crime at 50%, ahead of mental health, followed by the North West at 49%.
• 61% of respondents felt youth violence had increased in the last 10 years. This was higher for those in the DE social grade (67%) and lower in the AB social grade (57%), suggesting some disparity by social class. Across regions, London had the highest rate of parents reporting an increase at 67%, followed by the Northwest at 66%.
• 70% of respondents felt youth violence / crime is the result of a combination of socio-economic problems and individuals’ decisions, as opposed to one or the other. This shows general acceptance that both environmental factors and personal responsibility are important.
• When it comes to preventing youth crime/violence, the most popular policy was stricter punishment at 47%, very closely followed by investment in youth infrastructure at 46%. This was followed by increase in police presence at 43%, as well as both improvement in employment opportunities and reductions in socio-economic equalities at 38%. Parents in London were much more likely to favour socio-economic improvements over policing methods, whereas parents in regions such as the North West and the West Midlands favoured stricter punishments.