Press release

£5 million fund to deter young people from gang and knife crime

Families across the country who are vulnerable to the devastating effects of knife crime and gang culture are set to receive more support from a new fund.

From:
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (2018 to 2021) and The Rt Hon James Brokenshire
Published
20 October 2018
This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government
Photo of joined hands in a circle
  • New £5 million fund to support the most vulnerable children and families
  • Funding will support earlier interventions to turn young people away from crime
  • Councils will have the chance to bid for funding to tackle youth and gang crime in high-risk areas

Families across the country who are vulnerable to the devastating effects of knife crime and gang culture are set to receive more support from a new £5 million fund announced today.

The Supporting Families Against Youth Crime fund will allow keyworkers, community groups, teachers and other professionals working with children and young people to intervene earlier to help them develop the personal resilience to withstand peer pressure and make their own positive life choices.

It will also support more in-depth work with parents and carers to help them fully understand the risk factors and dangers of their children becoming drawn into gang crime.

Councils will be able to bid for funding to bolster their response to youth violence and gangs in their local area, as part of their Troubled Families programme.

The fund builds on the government’s wider support available to tackle serious violence which includes a £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund and a £1.5 million Anti-Knife Crime Community Fund.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, said:

Knife crime and gang violence can devastate the lives of young people, families and their communities.

Carrying knives must never become normal behaviour and we need to change the culture among many young people.

Early intervention and prevention is vital to tackling violence. That is why I am announcing £5 million to support initiatives which are helping young people to take a positive direction in life.

The government has committed £920 million to the Troubled Families Programme, which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for up to 400,000 families with multiple high-cost problems by 2020. The programme champions working with the whole family, ensuring they receive coordinated support from services working together to solve their problems as early as possible.

The programme which works with the whole family has achieved significant progress with:

  • nearly 130,000 families meeting the improvement goals agreed with local services against each of the problems they need to overcome
  • in 16,925 of the families where such progress has been achieved, one or more adult has succeeded in moving into continuous employment; and
  • the programme’s focus on preventing poor outcomes for children in troubled families has started to show positive results including reducing the number of cases that need to be escalated to children’s social care

The fund will come into effect immediately, supporting the government’s ‘public health’ approach to tackling the root causes of serious violence underpinned by the Serious Violence Strategy. This includes new measures recently announced by the Home Secretary:

  • a consultation on a legal duty for public services like health, education and welfare to tackle serious violence;
  • a £200 million Youth Endowment Fund aimed at steering those most at risk of youth violence away from becoming young offenders
  • an independent review into drug misuse

Office address and general enquiries

2 Marsham StreetLondon
SW1P 4DF

Contact form https://www.gov.uk/gui...

General enquiries: please use this number if you are a member of the public 030 3444 0000

If your enquiry is related to COVID-19 please check our guidance page first before you contact us - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-local-government.

If you still need to contact us please use the contact form above to get in touch, because of coronavirus (COVID-19). If you send it by post it will not receive a reply within normal timescale.

Media enquiries

Email newsdesk@communities.gov.uk

Please use this number if you are a journalist wishing to speak to Press Office 0303 444 1209

Updates to this page

Published 20 October 2018

Related content