Youth charity calls for more investment to keep young people away from disorder

More investment in frontline youth work could help keep young people away from violence and counter misinformation, a sector leader has said as children as young as 12 were convicted over the summer riots.

Analysis by the PA news agency shows at least 50 youths under the age of 18 have been charged in connection with the nationwide disorder.

On Monday, two 12-year-old boys were convicted on charges of violent disorder, while Tuesday saw a 13-year-old girl plead guilty to the same charge.

Kayleigh Wainwright (pictured), from leading youth work charity UK Youth, said it is “really sad” to see children “caught up in this”, whether perpetrators, victims or witnesses to scenes of unrest.

The director of youth sector innovation, whose career working with young people has spanned two decades, said those who committed crimes must take responsibility but voiced concern that children can be “more vulnerable”.

She told PA: “Of course those people, young or old, when they’re involved (in crime) need to take responsibility for that.

“But I think we see young people are more vulnerable when it comes to being manipulated with information, adults asking them to do things, being pushed to the front of these types of activities, and because they’re younger, maybe fitter, maybe more impressionable.

“In my career, I’ve never seen riots on this scale but it’s not unusual that young people would be involved in the ways I’ve said.”

One of the 12-year-olds admitted throwing a missile at a police van and taking part in two separate incidents of disorder in Manchester.

The judge in his case told Manchester Magistrates’ Court: “He’s more involved in the violence and disorder than any other defendant I’ve seen coming through these courts, adult or child.”

Ms Wainwright, speaking generally rather than in relation to any specific cases, said UK Youth were already “concerned” ahead of this summer’s disorder, about “growing levels of violence within communities as a result of poverty, lack of access to services, the increase in knife crime and violence more generally”.

She told PA: “I think just seeing what’s happened over the last couple of weeks is kind of like on top of that.”

She criticised a lack of investment in youth services, saying access “has diminished over the last 10 years”.

“We’ve seen thousands of youth worker jobs cut,” she said. “Thousands of services being cut.”

The charity has been pushing for every young person to have access to some form of youth services.

“We know that where there’s activities like youth services, it reduces crime, increases educational attainment, it provides young people with a safe space to go and someone to speak to.

“It also helps to educate young people around things like disinformation and bridge divides in communities.”

Its own research has suggested that youth work saves the Government £3.2 billion a year through improved education and employment outcomes and positive impacts on mental health.

Its Untapped report from 2022 said youth work also contributes £5.7 billion each year to the wider economy through jobs, volunteering, and local suppliers.

That report said that the sector had seen “seen significant and sustained reductions in funding over the past decade”, with reduced funding said to have led to “increased inequalities in terms of access to youth services across the country”.

Ms Wainwright said youth services can teach young people to develop “critical reflection skills”, which can help them to question things, find out where to get accurate information and raise awareness of disinformation and the harms this can cause.

While she said youth workers can actively combat disinformation – the online spread of which has been blamed for contribution to the scale of trouble seen in recent weeks – she added that it takes time for young people to have trust in them.

She said: “You can’t just do it in five minutes. That’s why the long-term investment in youth work is really important.

“You have to build up relationships. You can’t just go in and have one session, you might get one or two young people who take it (the information) in but it takes time (for most).

“It takes trust. Once you’ve built that trust they’ll begin to listen to what you say.”

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