Targeted youth support: redesigning services - addressing youth offending by providing things to do

Issue

There are high levels of anti-social behaviour in the Worcester pathfinder area. Anti-social behaviour levels are recorded by the community safety team.

Background

The pathfinder area is in four deprived wards in east Worcester. There is a youth centre with an attached outdoor games area in one of the wards. The games area was permanently locked because the youth centre managers believed that it had to be supervised to comply with health and safety regulations.

There was a history of young people breaking into the games area to use it. As this sometimes involved damage, police were regularly called to move them on. The result was groups of young people congregating in the street and around shops causing a nuisance.

Actions prompted by targeted youth support

The young people who use the centre were engaged very early in the targeted youth support (TYS) process. As part of the process, and supported by youth workers, these young people consulted their peers on the street and by a door-to-door survey to ask them what activities and facilities they wanted.

A consistent response was that they wanted to be able to access and use the games area when they wanted.

A TYS change team including representatives from the youth service, district council, sports development, community safety and police was formed.

Benefits and results

The TYS change team made the decision to open the games area, with lighting, until 10pm every evening of the week, even when the youth centre is not open. Youth opportunity funding was used to provide equipment and support to repair damage to the area. The funding was also used to employ a graffiti artist to help the young people produce graffiti art to make the area a place they are proud of.

TYS has brought groups of people together with new partners and this is really beginning to pay off

Joe Green, participation and engagement coordinator, children and young people strategic partnerships Worcestershire County Council

The fencing around the area is being removed and a timed light switch is being provided to enable young people to light the area when they want to use it.

The young people are now able to use area without being moved on and levels of anti-social behaviour are being monitored by the community safety team to see if they fall over the winter months.

The local authority

Worcestershire is a large county authority. The TYS pathfinder is focussing on a rural area and two deprived urban sites. The authority's statistical neighbours include Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, West Sussex, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Cheshire, East Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Bedfordshire, Shropshire.

Click to read more case studies on redesigning services to help young people with particular needs.