Department
for Education

Guidance

How to access support from a SAFE taskforce

Published 29 November 2023

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safe-taskforces/how-to-access-support-from-a-safe-taskforce

Overview

Serious violence has a devastating impact on children, their families and communities. The SAFE taskforces programme aims to reduce children’s vulnerability to the harms of serious violence by supporting them to engage in education.

SAFE taskforces are led by local groups of secondary schools, working with partners. They provide access to the right evidence-based support and services for children in their area. This support focuses on:

supporting children with their wellbeing and behaviour
improving children’s attendance at school
keeping children engaged with their education

This is a 3 year programme which will run until March 2025, backed by £30 million of government funding. Schools can help identify children who might benefit from support and can offer a safe and trusted way of accessing it.

Types of support

Each SAFE taskforce decides what types of support is available in their area. They use the evidence informed interventions guidance to help decide what support would work in their area.

Examples of support include:

mentoring
social skills programmes
cognitive behavioural therapy
speech and language therapy

Who can access this support

SAFE taskforces are in local authority areas where serious youth violence is most problematic.

You may be able to access support from a SAFE taskforce if your school is in:

Birmingham
Bradford
Haringey
Lambeth
Leeds
Liverpool
Manchester
Newham
Sheffield
Southwark

Schools in these areas do not have to be members or actively involved in the SAFE taskforce for their pupils to benefit. Each taskforce will have their own referral process and eligibility criteria based on local needs.