GovWire

Turnaround is a youth early intervention programme led by the Ministry of Justice. The programme is providing 56.5m multi-year grant funding to Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) across England and Wales until March 2025, enabling them to intervene earlier and improve outcomes for children on the cusp of entering the youth justice system. This additional funding will enable YOTs to support children who they currently do not work with - up to 17,500 more children across England and Wales.

The programme was announced in May 2022 and entered delivery in December 2022. It will run until March 2025.

The governments Beating Crime Plan (2021) highlights the importance of early intervention and targeted support for this cohort of children, who often have complex needs, to prevent them going on to (re)offend and enter the criminal justice system.

Turnaround aims to build on the success of the governments Supporting Families programme, which showed the benefits of working with children and their families to meet needs through holistic support delivered by joined-up local services.

Eligibility

Under the Turnaround programme, YOTs may work with children who:

• have come to notice of agencies with enforcement powers for repeated involvement in anti-social behaviour (ASB);
  • are involved in anti-social behaviour who have received:
  • Community Protection Warning/Notice (CPW/N);
  • Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC);
  • Civil Order for ASB;
• In receipt of Community Protection Orders (CPO), Civil Order and/or Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC) for anti-social behaviour;
• interviewed under caution following arrest, or subject to a criminal investigation attending a voluntary interview;
• subject to a No Further Action (NFA) decision (including Outcome 22);
• subject to a Community Resolution (Outcome 8);
• receiving a first-time youth caution, not including a conditional caution;
• released under investigation (RUI) or subject to pre-charge bail;(PCB)
• discharged by a court;
• acquitted at court; and/or
• fined by a court.

Assessment and support

Although there is no single path to youth offending, there are certain needs and vulnerabilities associated with an increased likelihood of being in contact with the youth justice system or involved in offending behaviour. These include:

• Mental health concerns
• Substance misuse
• Having experience of the care system
• Being a victim of crime/ abuse
• Unstable family setting
• School absence and exclusions
• Undiagnosed educational needs

Youth Offending Teams are able to use Turnaround funding to offer children and their families an Early Help style assessment to address needs and to build on individual strengths, with the aim of preventing them going on to offend or reoffend. Children and families are involved in decisions about the support and interventions they receive.

The programme recognises that YOTs best understand the needs of children in their local area, and deliberately gives YOTs the flexibility to decide which interventions should be used, provided these are evidence-based.

The programme is voluntary. Eligible children do not have to admit guilt to receive support. This voluntary aspect should help traditionally hard-to-reach children get the support they need and prevent an escalation to offending or reoffending.

Local contacts

For more information on how Turnaround is operating in your area, you can contact the relevant Youth Offending Team using contact details at this link.