Strategic Review of Youth Diversionary Services April 2017

Strategic review of youth diversionary services across Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton

Introduction The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton is responsible for allocating funds to organisations that support and deliver the PCCs priorities.

This report reviews youth services across Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, specifically those services which are targeted diversionary and youth offending prevention services, available to young people aged 10 years up to 25 years.

Following a review of commissioned services by the Commissioner, from the ‘Safer Communities Fund’ and ‘Be Part of the Solution’ funds, it was agreed to explore the availability of youth diversionary provision for young people, to better coordinate service availability, and reduction in service duplication and funding.

Services exempt from this are those which fall within the Pan Hampshire Domestic Abuse contract.

Aim The aim of this strategic review is to identify both gaps in service provision and, the commissioning intentions of our partners, while also identifying the extent of the demand for youth services across our area.

This report is being produced to support the Commissioner and his Commissioning and Partnerships Team, to enable appropriate allocation of future funding, the coordination of services across the region, and to commission services based upon evidence of need.

By undertaking a demand analysis this will inform funding allocations of future services, while also supporting the identification of services that should be available to young people.

Background A variety of open access youth provision is needed to support and facilitate those more targeted services. Universal services can often be a stepping stone for young people accessing support services, with trained youth workers being able to observe behaviours and interactions, offering familiarity

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for young people, while also being there as a step down support package from a more targeted to a universal youth service.

Historically youth services have had a healthy supply of funding, delivering extensive universal and targeted youth provision. Over recent years, there has been a significant decline in the amount of discretionary funding made available for youth services and further cuts are anticipated. This has led to many authorities funding targeted services at the higher end of the threshold of need and reducing the availability of universal services.

As a result of these cuts, there has been a shift towards evidence based need for services and even tighter eligibility criteria.

Services funded by the Commissioner must support at least one of the Commissioner’s four Police and Crime Plan priorities: •

Enable effective and efficient operational policing which meets the needs of the people it serves, by empowering the Chief Constable

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Strengthen partnerships to work together to reduce crime, promote public safety and create vibrant, inclusive communities

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Reduce offending

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Championing community needs including supporting victims, the vulnerable and those affected by crime and disorder

The Commissioner works in partnership with organisations, encouraging coordinated delivery of services and supporting development opportunities to work in partnership. The role of the Commissioner is not to replace the funding gaps where services and projects were once funded by statutory authorities, but instead to welcome innovation and creativity in service delivery. Offering small grants to local projects, enables local delivery to meet the needs of local communities while also meeting the Commissioner’s priorities.

This scoping exercise has taken place in two phases. Phase 1 was an initial youth mapping exercise whereby over 85 organisations were contacted and asked to complete a survey outlining the parameters of their service, this included service diversion type, service capacity, waiting list length and service outcomes. Returned responses varied, this generated more questions and it was agreed that further, more detailed exploration was required, Phase 2.

Phase 2 consisted of making contact with and arranging face to face meetings. This was broken down by Community Safety Partnership area and organisations made known to us with a purely youth diversion focus.

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What do we mean by youth diversionary/prevention services?

It was important to identify what constitutes a diversionary or preventative service for young people. The UK Government website defines youth prevention programmes as the following: ‘There are various prevention programmes that work to keep young people away from crime. They are run within local communities, and can involve parents and families.

Young people are placed on these programmes if: • • •

they have been in trouble with the police they’re ‘at risk’ of committing a crime they’re involved in anti-social behaviour

Attending one of these programmes is voluntary. The young person and their parents or carers have to be happy with everything before it starts’.

We engaged with many partners and identified many projects that deliver positive outcomes for young people. However, this report will focus on services that accept targeted referrals for diversionary services for young people meeting at least one of the three criteria as defined above.

Troubled Families Programme The Troubled Families Programme (TFP) was launched in April 2012, following a Government announcement making a commitment to work with the 120,000 most ‘troubled’ families. The aim was to turn around the lives of identified families with multiple and complex needs in England. In June 2013, the Treasury announced an expansion of the TFP to work with an additional 400,000 families. Among the criteria for the TFP, were households who are involved in crime and anti-social behaviour.

Families qualify for support under this initiative by meeting a number of criteria, crime and anti-social behaviour is one of these. Therefore, for the purposes of this report, it is important to acknowledge that by the nature of the programmes intentions, diverting young people from the Criminal Justice System could be an outcome of successful intervention.

A number of partners who contributed to this strategic review either have responsibility for the coordination of their local TFP or are commissioned to engage with young people and their families as part of this initiative. This report will not go into the detail of the TFP in each Community Safety Partnership area, due to the range of qualifying criteria and how implementation differs across Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton. However, we will highlight organisations and projects that could be responding to the crime and ASB concerns as part of the initiative. In

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Hampshire the TFP was rebranded as the Supporting Troubled Families (STF) programme and will be referred to as such.

Evidence

Community Safety Partnership areas East Hampshire The Community Safety Partnership (CSP) confirmed that a PAG (Partnership Action Group) takes place monthly. Cases that may benefit from STF could be referred to the Community Safety Team/Early Help Hub. STF cases which are deemed more challenging can be referred on to the local coordinating group, this is a strategic group for the East Hampshire STF. The Transform project offers intensive support as part of the STF. As East Hampshire has lower case numbers compared to other areas, the waiting lists are not as long for cases to be picked up.

There are no youth diversion services or programmes, fitting the criteria as specified above, available in this area, with the exception of the Youth Crime Prevention (YCP) service delivered by Hampshire Youth Offending Team (YOT). There are elements of targeted provision and open access youth provision throughout the district and borough, however the rural environment adds an additional challenge for young people to access these services.

Locally East Hampshire has seen a decrease in recorded ASB incidents and whilst this is still an issue (addressed through the Community Tasking and Coordinating Group) it is believed these pockets are fewer than in previous years.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Mental health issues are being flagged, especially around anger and anxiety.

• Child on parent domestic abuse is increasingly being reported.

• Social media continues to generate issues for young people.

• There is limited understanding of young people’s drug use and access to services locally and some research in to this area would be beneficial.

• As mentioned, due to the rural landscape, young people can struggle to access services and there is the potential for them to slip under the radar, with their behaviour being unnoticed. Detached youth services covering a range of interventions, across locations is required. Currently services are area specific.

• The use of technology and keeping safe. For both youth workers and young people. Technology is forever evolving and becoming increasingly sophisticated, knowing how to best approach this would benefit from particular focus. .

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Eastleigh In this area an ASB Panel runs monthly, around 15 to 20 cases are discussed each month, though not all are young people. Referrals come in from a variety of agencies.

Locally there are ‘Local Area Coordinators’ who ensure that youth provision is a priority across each district. In Eastleigh and the surrounding districts there is a variety of open access youth provision, with a small cost to attend and access, usually between 50p and £1. During the summer holidays the ‘Summer Parks Sports Programme’ runs for young people aged 6 to 16 years.

While this is an open access, first come first served provision, spaces are put aside for those on the TFP, housing support etc. There are no known referral only, youth diversionary services operating in this area, with the exception of YCP. Locally the CSP manager reports that the STF programme is supporting primary school aged children in about 80 to 90% of cases. There is no longer a list of ‘hot-spot’ areas, but Fleming Park is a key area where young people congregate. The behaviours of young people is changing, there is not the local issue of young people committing large amounts of ASB, gathering on street corners, parks etc. There is the belief that more young people are staying at home on electronics.

The CSP manager spoke of using the STF to fund counselling support to younger people.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Mental health issues and a lack of mental health services. Young people are having to wait an extensive amount of time before they can access support, by this point the intervention required is much more intensive and no longer preventative or lower tier.

• Mentoring services, to enable young people to access early support and have someone to talk to.

Fareham During the meeting with the CSP manager, it was outlined that Fareham CSP operate a monthly multi-agency PAG, with an average of 6 cases discussed per month. Y Services operate a detached youth service which is tasked through the monthly PAG meeting. Cases are allocated to local support services, though for some cases such as those with ASB, there is no clear cut direction on which provider to utilise. Referrals for whole family support are made to Motiv8 in relation to supporting low level families to the Supporting Families Programme.

With regards to providing youth diversionary provision, Fareham CSP deliver an ‘RJ Mediation Programme’. This is determined on a case by case basis and can be facilitated by a trained mediator for more challenging cases. The 5

clinics use a Restorative Justice approach to discuss acts in the community.

Clinics are run by an ASB officer, this role is inbuilt capacity from the CSP team.

In partnership with Fareham Fire service, a targeted mentoring service has been developed for young males. Referrals are agreed at PAG for referral into the programme. The intervention covers key areas such as life shills, cooking, proactive male mentoring and fire drills at the station, this is funded by the TFP. Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Sexualised behaviours, this is increasing at a worrying rate, possibly due to the increased awareness of professionals and confidence to report such behaviours and incidents.

• Mental health services. There is not enough support for both children and young adults with lower level mental health concerns. Referrals via the EHH have long waiting lists and this leads to increase vulnerability of for those affected.

• Street drinking and rough sleeping- while the majority are adults, children are drawn in to the drink and drugs culture around this.

• With the continued funding cuts and expansion of the new Hampshire model working from 0 to 19 years, services ordinarily working with targeted age brackets are looking to expand their remit. This detracts from the origins of the service, and in turn youth diversionary provision is likely to be affected.

• To be clear about what funding streams are being utilised and what support is actually available from services locally.

Gosport The Community Safety Manager for Gosport confirmed that they have monthly PAG meetings. The PAG is multi-agency with partners coming together and jointly agreeing appropriate action to respond to those deemed at risk of offending. Referrals can be made by any organisation with concerns around individuals. Support for young people may be offered through Transform (STF) for the most intensive families; Motiv8 or Youth Crime Prevention team (Hampshire YOT). Young people are usually referred to PAG because of ASB, there are concerns around the young person because they are at risk of offending/entering the Criminal Justice System or there are concerns regarding vulnerabilities such as CSE. PAG discuss the suitability of ASB contracts, these are then managed through the PAG and SafetyNet. Most commonly they would be co-managed by the Police and Youth Support Services (Motiv8/YCP) but this is not always the case. A concern raised is that referrals from PAG for one to one support for young people are subject to a waiting list.

The PAG is used as the referral channel for the DIVERT programme which is delivered by Motiv8, due to the wide-range of partners who attend the PAG. 6

DIVERT is a 12 week youth diversion programme (see Motiv8 section for full details, page 28).

A ‘Summer Passport’ scheme which offers three weeks of diversionary activities for young people aged 11 to 16yrs, specifically targeting those young people considered hard to reach. This is funded by the Gosport CSP and the PCC’s office.

Y-Services were commissioned by Hampshire County Council (HCC) to provide detached youth work in Gosport three evenings a week. They are advised by the PAG where the current youth related ASB hotspots are but are not obliged to attend those locations and have a duty under their HCC contract to ensure coverage of the whole of Gosport. Motiv8 were specifically commissioned by the CSP (through the Commissioner’s funding) to undertake targeted detached youth work on a Friday evening between 19:30 – 23:30 hours. Initially when the funding was sought the key issues for the CSP were CSE and Mephedrone use. ASB and Cannabis use are currently presenting as the biggest issues. Motiv8 provide a targeted yet fluid service which is directed by both the PAG and 101 reports received by the Community Safety Team. They respond to issues specific to that point in time and can be flexible in terms of location and method of delivery.

While there appears to be a number of options for diverting young people from the Criminal Justice System, the PAG will work together to identify the most appropriate referral pathway for each individual. The availability of these services will rely upon the continuation of funding from the various core commissioning bodies.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • The anticipated withdrawal of HCC funding for universal services could see a lack of detached outreach work, hubs and a missing presence of youth support services in the community. The CSP manager praised the Motiv8 hub in Gosport and believes that this increases the engagement of young people when combined with one to one support or other interventions.

• Due to demand for services there was some concern raised at the length of time young people and families are waiting for intervention. Young people are then less likely to engage because the window of opportunity for voluntary participation has been lost.

• Long term availability of the STF and associated funding • Short term grants do not allow for long term planning and results in difficulty in staff retention and viability of services • High level of deprivation in the Gosport area and the lack of services to meet this demand.

• Rise in ASB over the summer holidays.

• CSE, in particular peer on peer exploitation, and unhealthy relationships.

• There is a need to work with parents at the earliest identified opportunity, as negative behaviours can become embedded, which makes change difficult.

• Increase in Cannabis use is a concern.

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There has been an increase in child on parent violence over the last six months.

Havant Locally, arrangements known as the ASB Panel meetings, have now been replaced by STF case meetings. Anyone can refer into these, new families are brought in, plans are drawn up, and the use of CSP and STF funds are used to buy in services to best support young people and families.

Havant CSP will purchase packages of support from organisations such as Motiv8 to give one to one support for 6 months. Around 160 families a year go through the STF in Havant.

Motiv8 operate in Havant, as a part of this the DIVERT programme, (see Motiv8 page 25) delivered where there is capacity and funding to do so. While engaged in the programme, crime and ASB does appear to reduce.

The CSP manager spoke of the need to respond to local need. Local Neighbourhood police officers approach the CSP for funds to support diversionary and targeted events. To enable local areas to be innovative in their approach to immediate local issues before they escalate, CSPs need to be able to respond accordingly.

It is reported that local services are all ‘doing a bit’ of youth diversion but this is difficult to track and monitor what is available locally.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Young people need to be diverted and educated on the impact of their actions, especially when they are targeting those who are vulnerable or with mental health issues.

• Cuckooing is an issue across the Havant area.

• Social media. This is difficult to monitor, both usage and the impact this has upon young people. There is no mentoring or mediation service locally and requires funding at £500 per intervention.

• A service which physically meet with young people and gets them accessing local service, like a ‘buddy scheme’. Young people lack the confidence and social ability to take those first steps in accessing services.

• One to one support, focused in blocks of 4 to 6 sessions.

Isle of Wight The Community Safety Manager confirmed that while some youth projects were funded under the Councils ‘Youth Offer’, they do not necessarily meet all of the needs of young people at risk of offending. There are pockets of good practice across the Isle of Wight. The majority of services are generally available, rather than being targeted.

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The demand for the Targeted Youth Support Service and Troubled Families is high and at times overstretched. There is an ASB Officer who will link in with schools on preventative activities, however with only 1 officer the service has become diluted. The ASB Officer will complete gatekeeping with the schools, however does not have the capacity to lead young people into activities as they previously did.

The Police are good and will arrange ad-hoc activities in areas where groups of young people are known to congregate. However, this is not a referral system and dependant on capacity within local areas.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Targeted diversionary work is needed before young people hit the threshold for YCP. Young people migrate quickly into these groups and move through the system in a matter of months, from drugs to CSE to offending.

• The IOW has many voluntary sector organisations and there are opportunities that could engage young people in meaningful diversionary activity, for example boxing. Young people need positive role models; education around healthy relationships; mentoring. An activity like this would proactively challenge the use of substances; committing crime and anti-social behaviour.

• Young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing needs to be a focus. A significant number of young people involved in criminal activity require emotional wellbeing support and guidance, e.g. through a mentoring programme.

• Locally approximately 16% of young people known to YOT are children looked after. An action plan to reduce criminalisation of children in care has been developed however, there are limited resources to deliver.

• There are areas on the Island where youth offending and ASB appear to be more concentrated. This could involve public activities such as drinking alcohol or racing cars and can appeal to vulnerable young people. Children are reportedly migrating to these groups, there is then further risk taking behaviours that can be learnt.

• There is a lot of concern on the IOW regarding CSE, young people going missing and drug and alcohol misuse.

• There is evidence to suggest an increase in peer on peer domestic abuse, and child on parent abuse. Programmes to address healthy relationships and anger management need to be explored.

New Forest In meeting with the CSP manager it was highlighted that there are no referral only, youth diversionary services or programmes made available in this district, with the exception of YCP. There is open access youth provision, however it can be difficult for young people to access these services, as the public transport links are inadequate and expensive, making it out of reach for the average working family.

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The CSP manager is lead for the STF in this area, and has a full time coordinator to support this. There are no panel meetings to allocate STF cases, the coordinator decides upon this. The area supports 111 cases for the year, 23 of these are intensive. The CSP manager stated that the Transform STF service is no longer accepting referrals from the end of November 2016, this is to allow current caseloads to be managed in the wake of the new HCC STF funding arrangements from April 2017.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Difficulty in accessing services • Lack of provision across the more rural areas • Local councils not understanding the needs of young people locally. The CSP manager has to manage the expectation of others who see the actions of young people as ASB when it is not.

• CSE • Substance misuse • Lack of detached youth service work, especially in the more remote areas • Asking young people what they want in their community North Hampshire (Basingstoke, Hart and Rushmoor) Representatives from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council reported that targeted youth diversionary work goes on through their Early Help teams and the STF initiative. They are fortunate in Basingstoke to receive a reasonable amount of funding to engage with approximately 300 families. This has enabled them to commission services to work with and engage young people.

Examples of this are the Phoenix Project which is run by the Hampshire Fire Service. Schools also access this service through a purchasing arrangement.

The Kicks Programme is a football initiative for children aged 11+. However provision differs in each of the three boroughs, with Basingstoke seeming to have the largest resource.

Basingstoke and Deane run the ‘Streetz’ Project during school holidays. While this is open to all young people, they pride themselves on engaging ‘hard to reach’ and ‘at risk’ young people in their programmes. Referrals can also be made by agencies who are working with young people and have concerns.

The youth club provision takes targeted referrals as well as being open access. Dedicated youth workers are (employed independently by voluntary/community organisations) allocated to their respective areas in Basingstoke (17 youth clubs). These individuals work closely with the Community Safety Officers who go out on patrol to try and engage with young people and divert them from risky behaviours. They are working hard with local communities to try and ensure youth clubs are sustainable moving forward as there is no funding for this provision.

The Safer North Hampshire (SNH) community safety area also have the Challenge and Change programme. They receive referrals from VOG 10

(Vulnerabilities Operational Group, their equivalent of a PAG) and Police as part of STF via the Early Help team. They run 2-3 programmes a year which consists of 4 sessions; one around ASB, cause and effect, one to visit the Police Station and talk to magistrates, one to visit the Inside or Out project at Winchester Prison and then the Fire Service. They also make onward referrals for continuing engagement and support. This is primarily run through the good will of partners so does not cost much to facilitate, however it is anticipated that the Inside or Out project will no longer take referrals after the 31st March 2017. They also have the Peer Court available in Basingstoke.

Basingstoke Early Help meet weekly with 30+ agencies engaged. YCP workers from the YOT link in with all three Early Help teams in the respective areas. SNH also fund a Schools Education Worker who goes into schools to do Personal Social Emotional lessons, however some of it is targeted around drugs.

In Aldershot, SNH work with Aldershot Football Clubs Community Trust, again this is to engage young people in positive activities. Members of the public can pay, however they also take targeted referrals, funded by Rushmoor and Hart. Also in the Hart and Rushmoor area are ‘Creating Futures’ who undertake outreach work; ‘Vision for Youth’ and ‘Fleet Phoenix’. Outreach work is currently funded by Hampshire County Council, hence may be at risk.

Summary of key concerns and local issues • Safer North Hampshire feel that there is a gap around engaging with parents. Young people who come to the attention of VOG can be referred to YCP and the Peer Court. However they strongly believe in promoting the whole family approach.

• One of the biggest concerns for this area is if the STF funding is withdrawn after 2020. They also confirmed that HCC are withdrawing some of their funding for universal services, this has been reduced year on year for some time.

• They also feel that more targeted work is needed with young people who have mental health issues, for those that do not meet the higher threshold for health services. These young people are not owned and taken on by anyone, however it is this group that experience anxiety, depression and may self-harm as a result. They then start to abuse drugs and turn to crime. These individuals can become at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation.

• They also know from feedback that young people in Basingstoke in particular do not feel safe. They are concerned about gangs and people carrying weapons. They would welcome more targeted outreach work that could be flexible to meet local demand, need and trends.

Portsmouth For many years the Safer Portsmouth Partnership (SPP) recommended financial support for youth diversionary activity and worked with the voluntary sector to deliver this. The Children's Trust now leads this work for the city.

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However, since 2014, SPP partners have continued to support a local communication campaign 'Is this Love?' targeted at young people to raise awareness of healthy relationships to help stop the intergenerational cycles of abuse. A recent survey in Portsmouth secondary schools ('You Say' 2016) showed 49% of pupils who responded had heard of the campaign via posters in schools.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • In 2015/16 there was a dramatic reduction of 84% (n138) in police recorded youth-on-youth violence compared to 2014/15.This could reflect restorative justice becoming more embedded, but it should also be viewed in the context that recorded youth-on-youth assaults were unusually high in 2014/15.

• Whilst the number of young offenders is reducing alongside the youth custody rate, the number of offences they have committed has steadily increased from an average of 2.3 offences per offender in 2007/08 to 3.9 in 2014/15.

• Offending by looked after children continues to cause concern; 12.7% of looked after children commit offences compared to 1% in the youth population as a whole. Whilst it is clear this is partly a reflection of the risk factors that have led to both their offending and looked after status, we do not seem to be impacting on young people's offending rates after they come into care.

• Young women aged 15 to 17 are most at risk of exploitation particularly where they have pre-existing vulnerability.

Southampton The Community Safety Manager confirmed that they have limited resources at their disposal to try and engage young people at risk of entering the Criminal Justice System. The community safety team will use existing resources to engage people, for example the Fire Service.

Southampton City Council is working to tackle street drinking and begging, through engagement by outreach workers (street homelessness prevention team, drug and alcohol service) and by enforcing the Public Spaces Protection Orders. There are a number of young people drinking, begging and living in the City Centre car parks. Children’s Services and the Police also go out to try and engage this group of young people. People who persistently beg may be issued with a fixed penalty notice, particularly if they are engaging in other ASB. Their aim when they do this is to try and move people into support services and deter them from begging in the streets.

With regards to Priority Young People, they have approximately 20 in Southampton, there is a threshold to meet and the focus is on repeat reoffending amongst the most chaotic young people. The Community Safety Manager also explained that they have a Community Tasking Coordinator Group, in 4 areas across the City. They involve neighbourhood policing teams; Community Safety; Early Years; Housing etc. Young people are 12

sometimes referred to the Fire Service if the concerns are related. However, there are probably less than half a dozen young people per each of the four city areas that come to the attention of the group. Police and Local Housing engage parents and send letters out via the parent aware scheme to try and deter young people.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • The young people who are begging and street drinking take up a lot of the Councils resources and they would appreciate focus around this.

• Young people cause nuisance on motorbikes, however they tend to deal with this through enforcement methods, rather than targeted diversionary work.

• There is a big concern that young people are being used to traffic drugs into the City from London. The Community Safety Manager believes that this needs focus as drugs drive behaviour.

Test Valley Partnership The Community Engagement Manager (Community Safety) for Test Valley Borough Council, explained that their Partnership Action Team’s (PAT) meet on a monthly basis, once in the north and once in the south of their borough. It is here that individual cases are discussed, including young people who are exhibiting worrying behaviours. The PAT meetings are well attended and include the Council’s Community Safety Officers as well as representatives from the Police, Hampshire Fire Rescue Service, Schools, YOTs etc. Partners are invited to attend if there are concerns around specific young people or behaviours. A joint decision is made around who may be best placed to engage with a young person at risk of entering the formal Criminal Justice System.

The Council have a small team of Community Engagement Officers who all have different specialisms. They are responsible for engaging with people and trying to divert them into positive activity. However, individuals requiring a more formal response could be referred via a number of different pathways.

The multi-agency ICE (Intervention, Communication, Education) Project has been running for a few years and targets those who are beginning to exhibit changed or concerning behaviour. The project runs either one to one sessions with young people in school, and/or engages with them in 6-8 workshops on a range of issues, tailored to the concerns around that cohort, such as arson, ASB and CSE. The project is run in partnership with the Police, HFRS, schools etc., through the Test Valley Partnership (which incorporates the CSP) and these partners lead the workshop sessions. The project is part funded by partners in terms of the resources that they can offer and part funded by the PCC. The continuation of the project will rely on securing funds and partnership commitment moving forward. The Community Engagement Manager confirmed that they have seen positive results with people previously coming to the attention of PAT, falling off the list altogether or 13

young people who are known to be offending, ceasing or reducing the amount they come to the attention of the Police. A range of other more informal preventative and diversionary schemes are also operated via this Partnership.

When young people either do not engage with the ICE project or concerns regarding individuals are escalating, they will refer cases to the YCP service within Hampshire YOT, STF or Early Help hub. On average, approximately 78 young people are discussed at each area PAT, with 2-3 new cases per month.

Summary of key concerns and local issues • The size and diverse nature of the Test Valley Borough presents many challenges for the partnership. What may not be regarded as a particular issue in Andover may be a cause of concern for people who live in the more rural communities. This makes it more difficult to allocate resources and respond to situations.

• A number of cases involving young people being exploited have been uncovered in the Test Valley area. CSE remains a concern, with people from London known to come to the area to traffic drugs and exploit young people.

• The partnership is also looking to explore mental health support for young people. The partnership are hoping to work with voluntary sector organisations locally to put together a package for young people.

• They are also looking to develop a project for young people in the LGBT community.

Winchester City Council – Community Safety While the Winchester Community Safety area have access to the YCP service provided by Hampshire YOT, the current waiting time is 3 months. The Community Safety Manager confirmed that the need then turns from diversion to intervention. The YOT are not allocating resources (in the form of a dedicated officer for the Winchester district) because there has been a lack of demand/referrals. However, partner agencies may not referring due to not feeling confident the young person will be picked up in a timely manner from the time of the referral being made. There is then a risk that the intervention has little relevance because it has been several weeks/months since the young person agreed to the referral.

In Winchester, they have a partnership action group called OVAL (Offender, Victim and Location) which is a monthly multi-agency meeting which addresses partner concerns about victims, offenders and those with vulnerable risk factors such as ASB and CSE. Families of concern as well as individual young people are discussed, however partners see the disengagement of families as referrals are not picked up quick enough. In addition the Winchester District stretches down to Denmead and Hambledon which is the responsibility of the South East YOT team, however Winchester is North West.

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Their STF programme is facilitated by the Health and Well-being team. They have commissioned some organisations to manage pieces of work, however this not specifically connected to the prevention of offending by young people.

There is a charity called Street Reach which they believe is part funded by the Commissioner and part funded through HCC. They have Outreach Workers in Weeke and Stanmore. They also do specialist workshops in the holidays, though are unsure whether this is continuing post March 2017.

Winchester City Council ran an event called ‘access all areas’ in the summer of 2015, however they found it difficult to evaluate so didn’t apply for funding this year – other CSP managers made similar comment. The event reached 150 people, however it was impossible to measure the impact that it had for the people that attended and to say that it targeted the right people.

ASB referrals are at an all-time low, however they are not sure if this is because of their partnership working and quick response or if it is apathy from partners referring. However, just because their numbers are low, it does not mean that what is happening is any less serious and the impact for vulnerable people in those communities is very real, and the equal access to service provision for young people is important.

Summary of key concerns and local issues • Biggest gap is youth diversion services in rural communities across the Winchester district.

• Winchester City Council feel that they desperately need Outreach Workers and would like to see it extended to vulnerable communities.

• If the Community Safety Team were to pick an area that is causing concern, they would say that they have concerns around sexting and CSE and would welcome diversion/intervention around this. Particular the dangers of social media.

• They would also promote more peer led diversion as this has been successful for them with their Skateboard Rangers Partner Organisations Youth Offending Hampshire Youth Offending Team, Youth Crime Prevention Service The primary aim of the YOT is to prevent offending and re-offending by children and young people. Therefore, everything that the YOT do is targeted and diversionary in nature. Prior to the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners, YOTs nationally received a Home Office grant for prevention and diversion work, and YOTs had a statutory duty to prevent youth crime through the funding of various prevention programmes such as Youth Inclusion and Support Programmes (YISP). When Police and Crime Commissioners came into being, the Home Office decided to funnel funding through the PCC rather than allocate straight to YOTs. While funding has decreased on an annual basis since 2012/13, the service has been protected 15

as far as possible because of the YOTs statutory responsibility around the prevention of offending. The YCP service is jointly funded by the Local Authority; PCC and Youth Justice Board grant that is given to the YOT. The Youth Offending Team Service Manager confirmed that the YOT Governance Board want to uphold the principle of continuing to fund YCP because evidence demonstrates the effectiveness of the service and that it would be more costly if the young person entered the statutory system.

The number of first time entrants has reduced significantly over the years, it is believed that YCP services have influenced this, alongside changes in policing, where young people are diverted, for example by Community Resolutions.

The YCP service operates across all of Hampshire’s district and borough areas, linking in with the Early Help offer. YCP workers across Hampshire were previously based in locality teams, however the decision has been made to bring the service back into the YOT organisational structure, although they will remain integral to the Early Help offer. There are 16 full time equivalents working across the HCC area.

YCP staff work with young people identified as being at risk of formally entering the Criminal Justice System between the ages of 10 and 17.

Intervention is tailored to meet the needs of the individual, based on an Asset (soon to be AssetPlus) assessment. An individual intervention plan will then be created to meet the needs of the young person which is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. YCP will work with young people between 3 months and a year depending on need. This work involves home visits to the family and weekly one to one sessions with the young person. The intervention will be led by the YCP worker, however they will often make use of resources/agencies available locally, based on need. YCP will complete exit strategies with the young person and make onward referrals for support services.

Eligibility criteria: • The young person is willing to engage in a programme of intervention to reduce their risk of offending on a voluntary basis • Within the past three months, the young person has engaged in ASB • In the past three months, the young person has come to the attention of the Police because of their behaviour in the community, but has not yet received a formal sanction • The young person has parents/siblings who have been convicted of offending (where the referred child is exhibiting similar behaviours) • Service is completely voluntary and YCP will not work with young people when they have been given a substantive outcome by the Police (for example, Conditional Caution) The YOT service manager believes that one of the strengths of YCP is that it sits under a statutory service. YCP will work with young people who are often subject to Child Protection and Children in Need plans, as well as Looked After Children. The service also recognises the value of voluntary sector 16

partners, however this availability is limited in some areas. The YCP service offers consistency of service provision regardless of where a young person lives and staff members are highly trained in assessment, safeguarding, risk management and intervention.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • There is always a need to balance risk with welfare when you are working with young people • A financial forecast for three years would help the team to stabilise • The caseloads are becoming more complex. Young people are receiving voluntary disposals from the Police for offences of Harmful Sexual Behaviour. The young people they work with are consistently having high risks and vulnerabilities such as mental health, CSE etc.

• Ideally they would like to lower the age range to accept young people from 8 years old. Understanding these complex needs at YOT level is sometimes too late for the YCP workers to engage the young person and make a positive difference • There is a need to work with families as you cannot work with a child in isolation. While there is no parenting support within the YCP service specifically, YCP workers support the whole family and are trained to use restorative approaches to facilitate processes within the family environment. Hampshire YOT would like to expand the use of their ‘Break for Change’ programme which is based on restorative principles, getting young people to consider the impact of their behaviour on others. They also encourage young people to take ownership of their problems and make positive change

Isle of Wight Youth Offending Team Aligned with and currently managed by Hampshire Youth Offending Team (HYOT), Isle of Wight YOT also have a youth crime prevention resource which is funded by the Commissioner. The Isle of Wight YOT had a limited prevention function following the disaggregation of Wessex YOT in 2012, however they now have a Youth Crime Prevention Worker (for 31 hours a week) and their sole function is to engage with and intervene with young people identified as being at risk of formally entering the Criminal Justice System.

Please see Hampshire YOT section for more details regarding referral criteria, pathways and concerns, however intervention is tailored to meet the individual’s needs, based on an assessment – Asset/AssetPlus. When fully resourced, the service can support up to 15 young people at any one time.

The Youth Crime Prevention Worker also links in with the Early Help offer and Targeted Youth Support across the Isle of Wight. The latest evaluation showed that none of the children who were closed to YCP intervention between July 2015 and September 2015 had entered the Criminal Justice System.

Referrals primarily come from education and the Police.

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Summary of key concerns and local issues: • The post is funded through the Commissioner’s Safer Communities Fund.

The provision as it exists at the moment will depend on the continuation of funding.

• While all YOTs have reported a reduction in the number of first time entrants, all raised concerns about the complexity of the children and young people referred to them.

Portsmouth Youth Offending Team Portsmouth YOT, have the same statutory responsibility as Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Southampton Youth Offending Teams / Service in terms of the prevention of offending and re-offending. Portsmouth YOT also referred to the reduction in the number of first time entrants and attribute this to a number of reasons; one of the main being the value of the ‘Triage’ panel in Portsmouth which is now well established. The increased use of ‘Out-of-Court Disposals’ has ensured that young people are getting access to intervention and support earlier.

The Commissioner part-funds resources that contribute to Portsmouth YOT's engagement in the Triage panel, enabling both business and support officer support. The funding received from the Commissioner has enabled them to host a number of ‘Take a Risk’ events which are run during school holidays.

Sessions on road safety and healthy relationships are undertaken. The YOT have also run courses in cooking and art that give the young person an ‘ASDAN’ qualification. Funding received from the Police and Crime Commissioner contributes to the dedicated Substance Misuse worker who has a remit outside of the YOT. Portsmouth YOT have direct referral access to the Priority Young Person post that is funded by the Commissioner and managed by Motiv8 (see Motiv8 section for full details). This post provides intensive mentoring support for approximately 5 young people on the Portsmouth YOT caseload. This is not a duplication of the statutory service that they provide. The hours the YOT spend with them is on structured offending behaviour work, whereas the Motiv8 worker will go with them to encourage their participation in certain activities which the YOT workers do not have the capacity of level of expertise to do.

There was an Integrated Youth Support Service within Portsmouth City Council however this is no longer available in times of austerity. Organisations such as Motiv8 and Pompey in the Community run Services, however these have drastically reduced. With regard to STF in Portsmouth, they are targeted to work with 125 families, however a scoping exercise identified 2000 young people at tier 3 in need of support.

The ‘Virtual School’ (educational support service for children looked after) has been working in partnership with the YOT to track and monitor all children 18

looked after known to YOT with monthly meetings to ensure young people have identified educational provision, or where the young person does not wish to engage in education they have an identified intervention worker to support them in their path to education, employment or training.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Portsmouth YOT believe that there is a need for more youth crime prevention resource in the City. The Restorative Justice Officers are working in partnership with City schools to try and prevent emerging issues from escalating.

• PYOT have identified that there have been an increase in the number of cases related to sexual offending – within the family unit and with photographic images being sent.

• PYOT believe more knife and weapon prevention work is needed. The YOT will welcome targeted Services in these areas.

• There has also been an increase in violence towards parents. The emergence of such concerning behaviour is something that needs to be addressed through a coordinated City-wide and arguably Force-wide approach

Southampton Youth Offending Service Youth Offending Services (YOS) have a statutory responsibility around the prevention of offending and re-offending. The Southampton YOS manager confirmed that they have been successful in terms of reducing the number of first time entrants into the Criminal Justice System.

Southampton YOS contributes to the Southampton joint decision making panel. This forum triages lower end youth offending to ensure that young people are appropriately diverted via Youth Community Resolutions. The joint decision making panels are now standard practice across the Hampshire Policing area.

In addition to their statutory duties, Southampton YOS hosts an Early Intervention Group for year 5-6 pupils. While hosted by the YOS, it is managed by the local Families Matter (Troubled Families) Workers. The YOS also offers specific group work provision for young people involved with or at risk of becoming involved with the Criminal Justice System: Take a Risk – which is a substance misuse and victim impact behaviour group; Street Doctors (emergency first aid) and a weekly arts award programme. The YOS also holds a franchise with the Hampton Trust to enable them to deliver the ‘LINX’ domestic violence programme.

Southampton YOS also have a Restorative Practice in Schools Project, working with 7 schools, helping them to embed a restorative approach to respond to situations that arise within the school environment, which will hopefully prevent their escalation and further harm being caused as a result.

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Summary of key concerns and local issues: • While the number of first time entrants has reduced, the shrinking cohort are committing more offences. This cohort have a complex array of needs and as part of the youth justice agenda, these needs to be understood so that the response can be appropriate. This will also enable the YOS to target their prevention work in future.

• Southampton YOS feel that they need to be closer aligned with education and Early Help. The YOS manager also felt that a targeted referral process was necessary, and there should be a focus on assessing remit and impact.

Unitary Councils Hampshire County Council (Commissioning) HCC have changed their grants process this year in preparation for April 2017. HCC are moving towards the 0 to 19 model of support. In previous year the grants made available have been split into two pots of funding, one for early years, the other for youth provision. £1.1m has been made available this year, with £164,000 top sliced to be made available for young carers provision. Each district has been allocated funds based on a formula as defined by HCC. Each district was asked to identify their strategic priorities, a panel was held with recommendations made about how the funds should be allocated at a local level, to meet the local need. Overall the total number of bids made was double the money available.

Local children’s partnerships have been asked to hold local services to account on the grants given, ensuring accountability and delivery of service.

HCC previously had organisations bidding for different pots of funding. By putting the funding out at a district level, there has been more interest from local organisations. Feedback from this change is reportedly positive, with organisations feeling more included and a part of a collaborative process.

Grants are always at risk to being cut, but this process is looking to reduce the duplication of services.

The current HCC STF Transform model is coming to a close as of March 2017. The STF will be looking to operate at a district level, organisations can put in to support more than one district. A unit cost per family has been made available and approved moving forward. It was emphasised that the funds made available are not to support manager, building costs etc. The STF is

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guaranteed until 2020, but it is not yet clear whether organisations will need to reapply for funds year on year or be a part of a rolling contract.

Isle of Wight Council The Isle of Wight (IOW) ‘Youth Offer’ redesigned youth services on the IOW. Funding was previously spent on youth clubs, however not many young people were accessing them. The Council consulted with young people and communities about what they wanted and needed in their area. As a result 12 projects were funded, the focus was on getting young people engaged in positive activity and not on targeted diversionary services for young people at risk of offending .Some of the projects are doing more targeted work such as Quay Arts that accept targeted referrals from Children’s Services, YOTs, Schools etc.

The Targeted Youth Support Service has three workers and they are responsible for doing work which focuses on preventing homelessness, teenage pregnancy, substance misuse etc. They do one to one sessions and small group work. They get referrals from schools, direct referrals from families, however their focus is obviously about preventing a young person from coming into care, although they will link the young person into the Youth Crime Prevention worker at the YOT if there are concerns around offending.

Portsmouth City Council In meeting with several managers for youth services and housing for Portsmouth City Council, of the services made available to young people, there are no referral only youth diversion services meeting the criteria as outlined. Portsmouth does have open access youth provision across the city, with four youth clubs offering a variety of youth provision. The Youth Services manager acknowledge that Portsmouth is ‘lucky’ with the level of provision it currently has. Young people are able to access a number of support services depending on the presenting problem.

There is no detached youth provision in Portsmouth, this was cut 6 years ago.

Housing can use the tenancy agreements to help tackle issues such as ASB. Portsmouth residents are housed in Leigh Park, Havant. The tenants remain the responsibility of Portsmouth City Council. Over the summer holidays, two weeks of detached youth work was funded from housing, this was reported to have a positive impact.

A collaborative youth Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET) prevention programme is in place in Portsmouth, funded by the local authority, secondary schools and post-16 providers, with additional support from Job Centre Plus.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Employment and education- young people aren’t entering career paths, there is a lack of services to support young people around this.

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• •

Poverty- the youth centres are providing the basics of tea and toast to young people presenting as in need of food.

Healthy relationships- influences of social media is highly negative, lack of understanding of what a healthy relationships is. No detached youth services across the city.

Southampton City Council (Commissioning) The Commissioner for Southampton City Council explained that the Integrated Commissioning Unit is a joint commissioning unit between the City Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The Commissioners lead responsibility is for commissioning substance misuse services for young people up to the age of 25 and for adults. She also has a lead for commissioning young people’s mental health services. A local voluntary sector organisation, No Limits (see page 26) provide the substance misuse service in Southampton, as well as other services. The majority of the work that they are commissioned to do is around supporting young people and treating their substance misuse problems, rather than specifically to divert them from the Criminal Justice System, however there will inevitably be cross overs. No Limits have a high street drop in; safe houses for teenagers with mental health issues; counselling services and end to end support.

Substance misuse services for both adults and young people have received funding from the Commissioner. The funding obtained for the young people’s substance misuse service was for the purpose of providing brief interventions and was in line with the early intervention and prevention agenda.

Southampton City Council co-ordinates a Troubled Families Team (Families Matters) who have dedicated workers, a seconded Probation Officer, as well as links with the YOS and No Limits.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • There was some previous concern around the presence of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and the Police were trying to produce some baseline figures around this as they were concerned that it was a ‘slow burner’ in the Southampton area. The Community Safety Manager confirmed that they had concerns around NPS and its link to ASB, however this seems to have settled following the closure of a known premises.

Services: Active Communities Network A UK and international charity with a base locally in Havant, with projects developing in Portsmouth. ACN is linked in with the TFP, being contract lead for 7 families. ACN acknowledge there is a cross over in this work with YCP and YOT, though believe their delivery is more focused and enables closer 22

working with young people. ACN is the Secretariat to the cross party Parliamentary Youth Violence Commission.

ACN meet fortnightly with the local Neighbourhood policing team to discuss ‘hot-spot’ areas, families, ASB incidents and local operations. This enables ACN to facilitate and undertake pre-planned interventions at local events such as fireworks displays to reduce the risk factors of ASB around these peak times.

An average of two out of court disposals/positive outcome referrals to CAN are received each week. Currently working with over 30 young people identified on Child Protection and Children in Need plans, ACN have suspended all referrals formally referred from Hampshire Children Services for any further young people at these thresholds. Referrals are prioritized from Havant Police and Youth Offending Team to support a community safety agenda. There is continued monitoring of any offending behaviour within the community Formal referrals are made by Havant NPT for young people that are known to the local policing teams who are deemed vulnerable and at risk of offending/re-offending and/or displaying risk-taking behaviours. A formal assessment and home visit is carried out by the Pastoral and Welfare Lead, often in partnership with the referring officer, and ACN continue to liaise with Havant NPT on the young person’s engagement and progress.

Feeding off intelligence from Police for both individuals and groups, ACN will create bespoke interventions designed to prevent young people from offending, re-offending or displaying risk-taking behaviours. Young people receive specialist issue based interventions, delivered within an activity (usually a sports based) context.

Examples of specialist interventions delivered by ACN in the past 12 months is an 8 week diversionary programme looking at knife crime prevention for a group of 9 to 13yrs old in the local area, brought to the attention of ACN by Havant NPT. ‘Pimp ya bike’ is a 4 day course in partnership with Havant NPT, referral only for those at risk of ASB and offending. Over 50 young people have completed the 4 day course over the last 2 to 3 years. Coming up is an 8 week programme followed by a celebration evening for an ‘app design/gaming project’. Young people aged 12-16yrs from Leigh Park who are involved in risk taking behaviour including ASB/criminality or been victims and who have interest in gaming/animation/ICT will design their own gaming app.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Lack of aspiration and motivation, self-fulfilling prophecy attached to the stigma of the local area.

• Lack of parental support • CSE, sexting, unhealthy relationships, substance misuse.

• Lack of targeted services • Child protection issues linked with domestic abuse, mental health issues 23

• • • •

Due to service cuts, it is not always made clear what other services are offering.

Lack of targeted services Lack of services working in partnership to deliver services for young people.

Capacity to work with the higher tiered threshold of concerns for young people locally.

Barnardo’s In speaking with children’s service managers for Barnardo’s covering Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight. Barnardo’s do not deliver youth diversionary programmes or schemes in this region, however Barnardo’s do deliver on the TFP on the Isle of Wight, in Portsmouth for the Family Intervention Project and across Hampshire as a part of the ‘Transform’ intensive family support. Barnardo’s are a leading partner in this consortium, in partnership with Motiv8, Family Lives and Step-by-Step.

The funding for the Transform is available until March 2017, the Portsmouth FIP project is funded until July 2017.

Barnardo’s do deliver a range of services from CSE support to a new specialist parenting support service. By the nature of the support, it is highly likely this will have a positive diversionary impact, though not within the remit of this strategic review.

Moving forward: • Barnardo’s would like to see longer term funding options, as shorter funding leads to high organisational risk.

• They welcome and invite opportunities for joint delivery in working in partnership with other organisations. This would help when some funding options aren’t viable, relying upon existing services to ‘prop-up’ new services.

Community First A local charity with a specialist Youth Service incorporated into the organisation. ‘Youth First’ run traditional youth clubs and outreach, and are increasingly providing custom made anxiety and anger management training for schools and agencies as well as providing support to the LGBTQ community.

While Community First do not deliver referral only, youth diversionary programmes, they are supporting the TFP in Winchester offering 13 hours per week, with a key focus around anger and anxiety.

Moving forward, Community Firsts youth provision is looking to move to a largely detached model as they do not feel young people can be expected to 24

come to services, especially in rural settings. This alongside one to one support, provides a strong local youth provision. Also Community First is looking to work in Partnership with ACN. Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Poverty • Lack of transport • Lack of aspiration • Poor social skills • Poor sex and relationship education- Youth First provide a lot of condom demonstrations via mobile clinics.

• Over sexualised behaviours, excessive porn use • Families with drug and or alcohol issues • Longer term, ongoing support for young people. There is a lot of short term intervention but young people’s issues can be deep rooted and not solved in 4 to 6 weeks.

• Short term funding is an issue. For a project to become established and deliver the support intended.

• For the same youth groups to be delivered by the same youth workers to allow consistency.

• For a preventative youth group to be made available for those aged 8 to 11 years.

• The pull away from universal services is a big concern, universal provision is often a stepping stone to identifying those who require support, or a young person accessing to seek support.

Fire and Rescue Service The Isle of Wight deliver a diversion programme for young people who are at risk of fire setting and or those at risk of becoming involved with arson and further criminal activity. This service is run when required and aims to engage young people in positive activities, build confidence and detract from risky behaviours. 4 to 5 sessions are run over a 4 to 6 week period.

In Hampshire, the Phoenix project is a programmed designed to reduce fire risk, fire related crime and ASB within local communities, by working with young people identified as ‘at risk’ between 12 to 19yrs. A full week of intervention is then followed by sessions over a period of time with mentoring embedded throughout. The course is tailored to the organisation (TFP or Local Authority) providing the funding. The course aims to reduce fire crime and ASB through education and improving life opportunities by building upon life skills.

Inside or Out Project This is a referral only, youth diversion intervention based at HMP Winchester.

Referrals are accepted from YOT, Catch 22, Motiv8, pupil referral units, 25

education provision and local projects supporting young people around ASB for those aged 9 to 21yrs.

The intervention runs for 4 to 8hrs, acting as a preventative and educational service that engages young people, and diverts imbedded offending behaviour. The project aims to reduce offending and reoffending by utilising the experiences of service prisoners as facilitators. The project is based on restorative principles, aiming to educate young people about the harm that has been caused as a result of their behaviour.

While the project does not have a waiting list, the service is oversubscribed with organisations wanting to engage with the project. YOT referrals are prioritised ensuring interventions are delivered as swiftly as possible.

Motiv8 Motiv8 are a local charity covering the areas of Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham and Havant. Motiv8’s work supports young people aged 9 to 25 years, with most of the youth crime prevention initiatives targeting those aged 11 to 19 years.

Motiv8 provides a youth diversion programme called DIVERT to target those young people in a specific neighbourhood who have been identified as at risk of committing ASB and or, coming to the attention of the police with lower level criminal activity. Delivered in the Gosport and Havant area, DIVERT is a 10 week course with one to one support, aiming to reduce crime and ASB as a result of the intervention. Young people are referred in from a variety of agencies with input from local police officers. In Gosport all cases for the DIVERT programme are agreed at PAG. In Havant and Portsmouth where the PAG does not exist the team’s link into local forums.

One to one support is available. In Gosport this can be accessed via PAG, referrals from partner agencies, self-referrals and via the Transform project.

There are waiting lists to access service support, referrers and organisations can purchase traded services where support can be accessed sooner where there is capacity to do so.

In Portsmouth, intensive one to one support is offered to five of the most prolific offenders at any one time, working with YOT and social care. Cases are assigned via the Resource Panel, intervention can be anywhere from 9 months to 24 months, with the aim of reducing offending rates and increasing their engagement with education/employment.

Motiv8 until the 31st March 2017 is part of the Transform consortium with Barnardo’s (Lead Partner), Family Lives, and Step by Step delivering the HCC Intensive Supporting Troubled Families programme across Hampshire (excludes Portsmouth).

Summary of key issues and local concerns: 26

• • • • •

How to be sustainable and have a presence in each area with continued funding cuts Where funding is coming from, funding pots are reducing and can put organisations in competition with each other. Organisations need to work more collaboratively, this takes time and requires facilitation.

Young people struggle to access preventative support, often reaching crisis point before they can access support services, and by this point it can take so much longer to engage with and undo negative behaviours.

Young people who don’t meet particular thresholds can’t access support and/or there are long waiting lists Still need universal services for young people to access and engage with, project workers can often identify and target those who wouldn’t normally come to the attention of services, but are still in need.

No Limits No Limits is a charity which offers free and confidential information, advice, counselling, support and advocacy for children and young people under 26 who live in Southampton and Hampshire. No Limits does not deliver any diversionary programmes or schemes, but do offer diversionary activities while young people are engaged within their service for example, when a young person is engaged with substance misuse services, diversionary activities are offered within this.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Support services for young people being disjointed, especially in relation to mental health and wellbeing. It would be better if it this could be more coordinated, and following the DASH model where you have service delivery for young people up to the age of 25 years, encompassing a transitional model.

Neighbourhood Policing Teams Contacting the NPT Chief Inspectors for any youth diversionary programmes delivered by local NPT officers, showed that officers are engaged with local organisations, supporting and facilitating events, but are not the lead on delivering referral only, youth diversionary programmes. There are projects such as DIVERT delivered by motiv8, the I.C.E (Information, Communication, Education) programme and ‘Pimp ya Bike’ delivered by Active Communities Network, all of which have police officer input and facilitation. NPT teams do not have the budget to solely deliver youth diversion programmes, but do utilise existing partnerships.

Local NPT teams work to break down barriers and engage with young people at a variety of settings and events such as youth groups, community sessions, sports events and seasonal activities.

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While Havant NPT do not deliver any targeted diversionary youth services, they do co-facilitate and support sessions delivered by ACN. The Sergeant spoken to reported that ACN is vital for the local area, both in providing targeted youth diversionary sessions, and in feeding back intelligence regarding young people and families locally. Officers and PCSO’s undertake training e.g. a local officer recently undertook training in boxing supervisor skills, they will enable the facilitation and engagement of sessions.

Where ACN are having a direct impact upon the local area working with police teams and schools, ASB is reducing.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • Service gap between 6pm and 9pm locally. Young people don’t want to access after school clubs.

• Top end of junior school aged young people (ages 10 to 11yrs) to develop preventative work.

• Services can provide what people think they want, not what the local area actually needs.

• Service gap- wanting to explore youth victim awareness raising courses.

• Needs to be better promotion and publicity of services, groups and activities locally- not to just rely on posters to get young people engaged in activities.

Pompey in the Community A local charity, affiliated with Portsmouth Football club, delivering youth engagement services. While there are no referrals only, youth diversionary programmes, PITC do deliver a project called ‘Your Street Project’ which is funded by the PCC. The project’s aim is to use diversionary early intervention activities and targeted interventions with the aim of reducing Anti-Social Behaviour and positively engaging those at risk or involved in the Youth Justice System. The project delivers a number of sports activities primarily in Bransbury Park to reduce anti-social behaviour and criminality.

Raise Your Game is a project that increases participation in sport by young people aged 9-19 years with social and emotional needs. Funded through Comic Relief, the young people targeted are identified at risk of substance and alcohol misuse or criminality. The Raise Your Game project will provide the community with sessions across Portsmouth in schools, leisure centres and parks to build relationships with young people.

The Community Cohesion team work in partnership with Motiv8 to deliver Youth Choose, a programme of positive activity sessions across the city of Portsmouth. The sessions are free of charge and open to all young people aged 9-19 years, although under- 18s require parental consent to participate in the activities. The aim of the project is to encourage as many young people as possible to engage in positive activities across the city.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: 28

• • • • •

•

Not enough provision for young people locally Siblings looking after siblings Unhealthy relationships Need to provide more one to one support/mentoring When there are concerns about young people it is not always clear where referrals can be made, especially when the concerns are on the lower end of the spectrum and will not be picked up by social services.

PITC are supporting vulnerable young people, and would like to be invited to professional meetings as at times PIC are one of a few organisations the young person is opening up to.

Prevention and Neighbourhood Teams Hampshire Constabulary developed the Peer Courts. This is a referral only scheme, for lower level offences for young offenders up to 18 years. While this is not a long term intervention, the anecdotal evidence appears to suggest that his is leading to lower re-offending rates.

An open panel of volunteers for those aged 14 to 25 years can administer simple youth cautions. The panel is not there to pass judgement or guilt. The panel can signpost the offender to other local support services. The peer court can take on a Restorative Justice approach, should the victim wish to attend.

UKSA UK Sea Change are a local charity covering the Isle of Wight and the Solent.

Offering a variety of open provision and areas of targeted support, the ‘Unlocking Potential’ programme is aimed at those who are at risk from exclusion, young offenders, and those at risk of offending.

Referrals are accepted from YOTs, young offender institutes, schools, charities and the Job Centre Plus. The programme is a four-week course, with week 1 looking at engagement, week 2 is sailing training, week 3 looks at ownership and responsibility and week 4 looks at destinations after the programme has been completed.

Wheatsheaf Trust Delivers a referral only Mentoring Project called ‘BIG’ (Better relationships, I’m in control, Grow in confidence) across South Hampshire (Southampton, Fareham, Gosport, Havant) for young people aged 16 to 24 years. Referrals are accepted for those with an offending background or at risk of offending as identified by YOT, the police or other criminal justice professionals.

The service aims to support personal development such as confidence, sociability, self-esteem and self-control as well as progression into education,

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employment or training. There are no waiting lists at present. This service is flexible in its length of intervention to suit the needs of the individual.

Y-Services Y-Services operate across the boroughs of Fareham and Gosport. In meeting with a youth worker from Y-Services, the key youth diversionary services highlighted, meeting our criteria as outlined above, is the mentoring one to one support delivered by Y-Services. This service is partly funded by the PCC. Referrals come in via the EHH, from many organisations including schools, colleges and YOT. Young people need to meet 2 of the 5 TFP criteria, referrals are approved by the Fareham CSP manager and then allocated. Support is offered and varies between 3 months and up to 1 year for the more complex cases. Currently there is a waiting list of at least three months due to case worker capacity.

Y-Services provide detached youth provision for young people across the boroughs of Fareham and Gosport targeting areas flagged by the respective CSP manager and local NPT, and with youth clubs across, these services are all open access. Whilst they provide a youth diversion element, they are not referral only services with our outlines youth diversion criteria. Y-Services have been successful in securing funding from HCC for 2017-2018.

Summary of key concerns and local issues: • CSE is a concern for young people locally.

• Adult street drinkers are an issue- getting young people to acquire drink on behalf of adults.

• Substance misuse- young people in the Fareham area appear to be using cannabis, compared to those in Gosport using Lethal Highs.

• Violence amongst young males is of concern. This is not quite at a gang level, but of generating concern locally.

• Lack of diversionary referral only services, targeted interventions.

Previously small pilot projects were run, however this were just not sustainable in isolation, require a multi-agency response.

Findings Common themes raised throughout this strategic review: •

Due to the funding reductions in youth provision, many services have streamlined their projects or even closed down without notice. Many pilot projects delivered are not sustainable and are location specific. Services rely upon discretionary grants and funding, for current levels of service provision to be sustained, this funding must continue. It is evident from this strategic review, that there are in fact very few referral only, targeted youth diversionary services available for those young people who have been in trouble with the police, are ‘at risk’ of committing a crime and or 30

are involved in ASB. Concerns raised over the reduction of funding for services.

•

There are not enough detached youth services to target young people’s behaviour in local areas. Having detached youth workers provides familiarity of support for young people and a deterrent for ASB. This has been raised by a number of services, especially those in urban areas where detached services were once available, to go into areas where low level issues were being reported before these escalated into incidents requiring police involvement. Ways forward need to be identified to ensure rates of ASB to not escalate where detached youth service were once delivered.

•

The lack of mental health services made available for young people who do not meet the higher threshold of need, but when lower level mental health issues are left unsupported, these escalate and require more intensive intervention. In addition, mental health services can have extensive waiting lists at all threshold levels. With increased awareness and recognition of mental health related issues, this had led to a surge in referrals to mental health services. Young people can come to the attention of professionals due to ASB related behaviours when there are in fact underlying mental health issues, these can escalate into further escalating issues such as substance misuse.

•

Professionals continue to raise concerns around CSE for young people across the whole of Hampshire. Key concerns raised were in relation to exploitation, drug trafficking, inappropriate relationships and the lack of understanding around boundaries, respect and sexual relationships for young people. With increased awareness of the signs of CSE more cases are being identified. These cases are complex and require long term intervention. Associated with this is the understanding of healthy relationships, consent, sexting and social media. CSE falls under the wider umbrella of Child Sexual Abuse. CSA encompasses a wide range of complex abuse, not always being immediately clear to the young person that it is abuse they are being subjected to.

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There is little flexibility to respond to need when it arises around low level crime and ASB incidents in particular areas. Not to have a specific service set up, but rather a service that can be deployed and respond to issues accordingly, ensuring that geographical boundaries are not an issue to service delivery.

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As services continue to lose funding, it is imperative that organisations can pull together to deliver the best services, with the maximum coverage for those young people in need. As a part of the PCCs plan to keep ‘You, Your Family, Your Community Safer’ targeted youth diversionary services are a key part of this.

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The threshold for social care intervention has increased. With a rise in complex caseloads and a decrease in discretionary funding, case workers 31

can be left supporting young people without the adequate skills to deliver the right support. There is a need for a strategic overview of interventions made available for young people.

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There is a lack of clarity and consistency over YOT funding of youth diversion provision (YCP activities) and a potential lack of consistency over Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton.

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There is not sufficient coordination locally or nationally of when discretionary grant rounds are made available. Many of the organisations spoken with stated it would be of benefit for the Commissioning and Partnerships team to liaise and communicate with HCC and other local commissioning bodies to coordinate when funding rounds are made available, to enable local services and organisations to plan bid writing and develop service delivery plans in line with the funding rounds made available.

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Provider agencies reported that the current application forms to apply for funding from the PCC is not proportionate to the discretionary funds made available. Agencies have stated at times they have chosen not to apply for funding from the PCC due to the application form and monitoring requirements. More concise grant application forms and proportionate Key Performance Indicators to monitor targeted outcomes, based upon the PCC priorities and the amount of funding made available need to be fully embedded.

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Organisations overwhelming stated that they would welcome the opportunity for more collaborative work, to come together and co-deliver targeted youth provision. For the Commissioning and Partnerships team to consider one over-arching service specification, with an additional pot of funding available to respond to local need and rising issues.

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Each CSP area has seen a reduction in funding year on year. Leaving many to feel disempowered to make local decisions. It would benefit each Community Safety Partnerships to receive a small pot of money to fund local diversionary projects/events, giving responsibility to the CSP manager and the local neighbourhood inspector, to make decisions to meet the local needs of each local area. This could support the priorities of strengthening partnerships and reduce offending at a local level.

Next Steps This strategic review provides evidence and supports decision making for the next round of funding to be allocated via the ‘Safer Communities Fund’ 2017/18 and onwards. The Commissioner will make any final funding decisions. Those that support the Commissioner’s priorities, with strong applications meeting the identified criteria will be scored and may be awarded funds. All CSP leads were invited to discuss applications submitted in each respective area, to provide input into the decision making process.

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To look at the balance between contracted services, those receiving small grants and the methods of application. A number of views and issues have been raised from a number of organisations. A recurring theme is the lack of stability for services which rely upon grant funding, this shift would provide more stable funding and security to service longevity.

A follow-up report is being produced to look at the questions raised from this strategic review. The Commissioner is planning to hold a conference in 2017 to bring together organisations and our partners to fully explore how we as a collective can answer the questions raised from the common themes. It is hoped that this will lead to an agreed strategic approach for all funders to support and complement each other.

It is together we can work to deliver on keeping our communities safer, through our Commissioning and Partnerships team to target areas of need, while also providing a professional network for organisations to utilise partnerships, resources and continue to be innovative in our approached to working with and supporting young people.

Conclusion This strategic review does not aim to make recommendations, but merely from evidence gathered from all participating organisations, to identify themes and concerns that must be addressed for the future. This report does not aim to provide the answer but it does intend to clarify the questions.

Open access youth provision has a significant positive impact, youth workers can observe and identify young people they may feel could benefit from additional support, while also allowing targeted services to signpost enabling a step-down approach to support.

While this strategic review intended to only look at targeted diversionary services, it became strategically important to not look in isolation but to explore the scope of youth diversion and service delivery, to hear the views, issues and concerns of our partners.

This review looks to be the first of many strategic reviews, providing evidence to the Commissioner and the Commissioning and Partnerships team on service delivery, service gaps and partner views.

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Appendix 1

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ABC

Acceptable Behaviour Contract

ACN

Active Communities Network

ASB

Anti-Social Behaviour

CJS

Criminal Justice System

CSA

Child Sexual Abuse

CSE

Child Sexual Exploitation

EHH

Early Help Hubs

HCC

Hampshire County Council

HFRS

Hampshire Fire Rescue Service

PAG

Partnership Action Group

PCC

Police and Crime Commissioner

RJ

Restorative Justice

SNH

Safer North Hampshire

STF

Supporting Troubled Families

TFP

Troubled Families Programme

TYS

Targeted Youth Support

YCP

Youth Crime Prevention

YOT

Youth Offending Team

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