The Transition to Adulthood Project in Worcester, delivered by youth charity YSS, received a visit from Rob Flello MP.

The Shadow Minister for Justice and MP for Stoke-on-Trent South heard first hand from young adults on the project and their key workers. Dan, aged 23, said of being of the project, “I am more confident now, and my life has change for the better, and this is thanks to the work with my T2A worker.”

Mr Flello commented:

‘After speaking with young people and their key workers at the YSS project in Worcester, there is a clear message which emerges about the best approach to help young people avoid cycles of offending. It was really encouraging to hear how YSS gives young people the confidence and knowledge to enable them to move forward with their lives and overcome the challenges which they may have faced in the past. The approachable and friendly atmosphere at YSS breaks down the barriers between service users and staff, motivating young people to engage in activities and opportunities which they may have been reluctant to access in the past. The YSS approach clearly works and the benefits which it brings to the young people that it supports cannot be overestimated.’

David Chantler, CEO West Mercia Probation Trust, Phil Kendrick, Head of Commissioning for West Mercia Youth Offending Service with YSS Senior Managers and YSS chair of Trustees Lady Macfarlane had the opportunity to discuss the forthcoming national changes to the probation services with the MP, as well as the locally planned changes the develop T2A on a permanent basis following the Barrow Cadbury Trust funded project.

In light of the newly arranged tendering arrangements of Probation Services, they also discussed the future role of the voluntary sector in criminal justice interventions. Rob Smith, CEO of YSS highlighted his concerns that the pioneering work of T2A in West Mercia, which had evidenced a significant reduction in re-offending (9% compared to a cohort of 48%) was at risk. The role of the voluntary sector in being both engaged and innovative could be severely restricted if the tendering specifications for these new services were not designed accurately.

A new briefing paper on policing young adults, aimed at Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), has been published by the Police Foundation on behalf of the T2A Alliance.

This briefing aims to provide a summary of the key findings and implications from a small study on the policing of young adults. It provides an insight into the key challenges front-line officers face in street encounters with young adults (aged 18-24), referring in particular to stop and search and the night-time economy. It focuses not so much on how front-line officers should best enforce the law in these situations, but on how they should best negotiate such encounters without risking escalation and how this should be embedded in police practice.

The briefing is divided into six sections:

• Background
• Encounters with the police
• Stop and search
• The night-time economy
• Engaging with young adults
• Training and supervision

The paper, based on a longer scoping study published earlier this year, makes a number of recommendations for consideration, including:

• Raising awareness of the changing transition to adulthood and its implications for policing
• Changing how the police interact with young adults, particularly when exercising their powers to stop and search
• Developing more imaginative and effective ways of engaging with young adults
• Expanding police training to incorporate interpersonal skills and aligning officer training more closely with on-the-job supervision for probationers
• Investing in the development of a stronger evidence base

It concludes:

“Since November 2012, the replacement of the old police authorities with newly elected PCCs has fundamentally altered the relationship between the police, the government and the public. Given their mandate to hold the police to account, oversee the policing budget and reflect the wishes of local citizens in their plans, PCCs will now determine whether young adults will form part of the new governance, budgetary and consultative arrangements or become marginal to them. They hold the key to whether resources are invested in the right kind of training, supervision, management and leadership that will produce a step change in how young adults are policed. In reality, there is neither the budget for over-policing nor any excuses for under-protection.”

08/07/2013: Please note that this expressions of interest call for potential Transition to Adulthood Alliance Pathway projects has now closed.

The Barrow Cadbury Trust, which convenes the Transition to Adulthood (T2A) programme, is seeking expressions of interest from voluntary sector organisations for grant funding towards the delivery of services aimed at supporting young adults at distinct points throughout the criminal justice process. These projects are intended to illustrate how a ‘T2A Pathway’ could be delivered.

BACKGROUND

The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) programme was established by Barrow Cadbury Trust in 2008 to develop evidence for and promote effective approaches for young adults throughout the criminal justice process (see www.t2a.org.uk). This work is supported by a coalition of 12 of the leading criminal justice, health and youth organisations, convened by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, which together form the the T2A Alliance.

Between 2009 and 2013, the Trust commissioned and grant-funded a number of demonstration projects, each delivering services to young adults at different points in the criminal justice process. Three of these, known as the ‘T2A pilots’, were subject to a formative, summative and economic evaluation (see T2A pilots). The evidence drawn from these projects, and around 30 other policy and research projects undertaken as part of the T2A programme, has had a substantial impact on policy and practice. We now wish to repeat this pilot project approach for different points in the criminal justice process.

THE T2A PATHWAY

In 2012, a framework to illustrate the T2A approach, the ‘T2A Pathway’ , was created. The T2A Pathway sets out ten stages in the criminal justice process at which effective interventions can be made to support young adults involved in crime, including point of arrest, prosecution, sentencing, probation and prison.

Now, the Barrow Cadbury Trust intends to select and fund a network of projects operating at stages of the T2A Pathway to demonstrate how services can be developed locally and to illustrate how, in principle, a ‘whole pathway approach’ could be commissioned in a given locality.

The Barrow Cadbury Trust anticipates grant-funding 6 projects, each running for up to three years. Each project is likely to be quite different, and operating at different points of the T2A Pathway.

The T2A Pathway projects will be subject to a formative and summative evaluation, which will begin before the Pathway projects go live and run until after they end. The evaluators will also assist with establishing base lines at each project site, and provide practical assistance to the projects to ensure that data are collected correctly and consistently. It is not intended that the evaluation will be a comparison between the projects, rather an assessment of each project’s impact at its particular stage in the process and an exploration of commonalities.

It is intended that the T2A Pathway will make a significant impact on policy-makers at a local and national level, and will provide a strong evidence base for the ongoing work of the T2A Alliance in the years ahead.

APPLICANT AND PROJECT CRITERIA

1. The lead applicants for each project must be a voluntary sector organisation;
2. Applicants must have robust financial and governance arrangements, and a steady track-record of raising funds;
3. Up to £50,000 funding is available from Barrow Cadbury Trust per project per year, for up to three years, with the expectation that they will be match-funded to create a higher overall budget;
4. Applicants must be willing to take part in data collection to support the formative and summative evaluation, and be able to demonstrate commitment to evidencing impact;
5. Applicants must be able to demonstrate a track-record for delivering similar interventions and have evidence of impact;
6. The projects must be able to start in January 2014, with a lead-in phase beginning in November 2013;
7. The projects must operate in at least one of the stages of the T2A Pathway; it is probable that projects will not cover more than two;
8. All projects must work with young adults, which are defined in this project as aged 18-24 years. However, the T2A approach advocates flexibility in service delivery based on developmental maturity rather than chronological age, and so we are willing to consider projects that start the intervention with young people aged 16+;
9. Each project must be delivered in partnership with at least one statutory agency;
10. The project must only deliver the intervention on a voluntary basis (i.e. the young adults are able to freely opt into it), and not as part of a statutory order or licence arrangement;
11. The projects must build on an existing project that is already up and running and demonstrating promising results. Barrow Cadbury Trust will welcome projects that are either already targeted at young adults, or which are currently working with other age groups and could be adapted to deliver a specific young adult dimension.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Projects will be selected using the following process:

• The first stage is the expression of interest, which must be received by Friday 5^th July;
• All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their expression of interest by Friday 19^th July;
• At this point, a shortlist of applicants will be invited to submit a full application, which must be received by Friday 6^thSeptember;
• Selected projects will be notified by Friday 25^th October;
• Selected projects will undertake a set-up phase (including engagement with the T2A Pathway evaluators) during November and December;
• Projects will go live in January 2014.

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM

Once you have read the information above, and the supporting paper (attached below), please click here if you wish to submit an expression of interest.

If you have any further questions, please contact Barrow Cadbury Trust’s Criminal Justice Programme Manager, Max Rutherford.

For support with submitting applications, please contact Asma Aroui, Programme Administrator, or call 02076329068.

A new report by the Restorative Justice Council, launched today, recommends that all victims of crime should be offered restorative justice, regardless of the age of the offender. Currently, restorative justice is less available to the victims of crimes committed by young adults (aged 18-25) than victims of crimes committed by young people aged 17, despite its proven benefits to victims and in helping people turn away from a life of crime.
 
The report, Restorative Justice for Young Adults: Factoring in Maturity and Facilitating Desistance, which was produced on behalf of the Barrow Cadbury Trust and the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, found that lack of maturity among young adults can impact upon the practice of restorative justice, where there is an increased tendency for young adults to have chaotic lifestyles, dependence on family members, low levels of emotional literacy, difficulties in accepting responsibility and a lack of a sense of agency (or belief that they have the potential to do something positive). The report recommends that restorative practitioners are made aware of these challenges and suggests ways in which each can be handled successfully.
 
Author Ian Marder reviewed the academic literature on desistance in order to suggest six ways in which participation in restorative justice can help young adults put their offending past behind them. This research builds on Ministry of Justice findings that restorative justice reduced the frequency of reoffending among all age groups by 14%.
 
You can read the report in full at the Restorative Justice Council and see also Maturity, young adults and criminal justice: A literature review, a University of Birmingham Study for the Transition to Adulthood Alliance.

The Barrow Cadbury Trust, which convenes and funds the work of the T2A Alliance, would like to invite applications for the delivery of a major research project to evaluate a new initiative due to start later in 2013: The T2A Pathway.

T2A Pathway

In early summer 2013, Barrow Cadbury Trust intends to select and fund a network of projects operating across the T2A Pathway to demonstrate how services can be developed locally and to illustrate how, in principle, a ‘whole pathway approach’ could be commissioned in a given locality.

It is intended that these projects will operate across England and Wales, and will start in late 2013, running for up to three years. These projects will be led by voluntary sector organisations that already have a track record or an existing project to build on, and will be delivered in partnership with statutory agencies. There are likely to be 6 projects.

T2A Pathway Evaluation

An evaluation of the T2A Pathway will be formative and summative in nature, and will begin before the Pathway projects go live and run until after the projects end. The evaluation will assist with establishing base line data at each project site, and provide practical assistance to the projects to ensure that data are collected correctly and consistently. Each Pathway project is likely to be quite different, and operating at different points in the criminal justice process. It is not intended that the evaluation will be a comparison between the projects, rather an assessment of each project’s impact at its particular stage in the process and an exploration of commonalities.

1. The evaluation is subject to a maximum budget of £120,000;
2. The research will begin in July 2013, and complete no later than early 2017;
3. The research will draw data from the T2A Pathway projects;
4. The T2A Pathway projects are time limited to up to three years; and
5. The T2A Pathway projects are likely to be relatively small in scope, meaning that the project is unlikely to draw data from a large numbers of service users.

For organisations interested in tendering for the research, a supporting document outlining the detail of the T2A Pathway project is available on request.

Contact and timetable

Applications should be submitted electronically in Word format by 5pm on Monday 20^th May 2013 to Max Rutherford, Criminal Justice Programme Manager at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, on[email protected]

• The tendering process will begin on Tuesday 30^th April 2013.
• All applications for the evaluation must be received by 5pm on Monday 20^th May 2013.
• A shortlist of three applicants will be selected and notified on Friday 24^th May 2013
• These applicants will be interviewed on Wednesday 29^th May 2013
• The chosen applicant will be offered the contract on Friday 31^st May 2013
• The evaluation process will start in July 2013.

N.B. The selected applicant will be asked to present the evaluation research methodology at T2A Alliance members’ meeting on Monday 3^rd June 2013

If you have any questions about the project or the tendering process, please contact Max Rutherford, Criminal Justice Programme Manager at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, at [email protected] or 020 7632 9066. You can find more information about Barrow Cadbury Trust at www.barrowcadbury.org.uk and about T2A at www.t2a.org.uk

Transition to Adulthood Alliance Chair Joyce Moseley OBE spoke at a Youth Justice Board (YJB) and National Offender Management Service (NOMS) event marking the launch of new protocols for youth to adult transition processes in the community.
 
Speaking at the event, Joyce noted the fact that while young adults are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice process, with the right targeted support they are also most likely desist from crime. You can watch film of Joyce speaking below:
 

 
You can read more about the new Youth to Adult Transitions Framework here.

Responding to the House of Commons Justice Committee’s report on Youth Justice, Joyce Moseley OBE, Chair of the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, commented:

“The Justice Committee’s findings further underline the importance of a commissioning strategy which reflects the very distinct needs of young adults in the criminal justice process.
 
“It’s particularly encouraging that the Committee has given such a strong endorsement to the necessity of maturity being considering in sentencing, and crucially to the need for more effective transitions between youth and adult services, both in the community and the secure estate.”

You can read the Justice Committee’s report in full here.

On Friday 22nd March Harriet Baldwin MP visited the West Merica Transition to Adulthood pilot project, delivered by the youth charity YSS, commenting afterwards: “It makes so much sense to work with younger offenders to try to address the problems that might lead to reoffending”.

She was joined on the visit by Barrie Sheldon, West Merica’s new Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, who added: “The Police and Crime Commissioner is fully supportive of the work being done in West Mercia to shape better lives for young people caught up in the Criminal Justice System and Care Farms such as the Fold are providing a key service to communities. The work of the YSS Transition to Adulthood project is both creative and innovative.”

The West Worcestershire MP, who is also Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Employment Minister, had the opportunity to hear first-hand the experiences of the service users on the project. A lively discussion followed, touching on accommodation issues, employment, part time courses, difficulties in accessing full time courses if receiving Job Seeker’s Allowance, the lack of things to do that are not expensive and transport issues.

Harriett Baldwin and Barrie Sheldon were also joined by Eric Wood, Deputy PCC for Warwickshire, and were hosted by Chair of YSS Trustees Lady Susanna McFarlane, Rob Smith, Chief Executive YSS, together with Les King, West Mercia Probation Trust Worcestershire Deputy Head and Keith Barham, Head of West Mercia YOS.

The Home Affairs Select Committee has today published its Report on the draft Anti-social Behaviour Bill. The Committee welcomed a departure from automatic criminlisation for breach of Injunction, and emphasised that officers must have discretion to choose appropriate Community Remedies. The Committee also calls for a stronger “community trigger” to ensure that authorities respond adequately to complaints.

In its submission to the Committee, that Transition to Adulthood Alliance made the case that Anti-social behaviour tools and legislation must be supported by services that give police more community based options, and support restorative solutions, specifically tailored for young adults.
 
The Alliance encouraged local working which supports diversion and more effective transitions between children’s and adults services, proposed that PPCs take a lead in tackling young adult reoffending locally and submitted that where community consultations occur, mechanisms in place that support meaningful engagement with young adults.

You can read the Home Affairs Committee’s Report in full on the Parliament website.

 
Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff has paid a visit to the Transition to Adulthood’s West Mercia pilot project, delivered by youth charity YSS.
 
Peter Luff was hosted by Lorraine Preece Director of Operations and Business Development YSS, alongside Manjinder Purewal, West Mercia Probation Trust Worcestershire Assistant Chief Officer and Phil Kendrick, YOS Performance Quality and Commissioning Manager, West Mercia YOS.
 
David Andrewartha, acting Team Manager YSS, and T2A Keyworker Alison Steedman together with three young service users gave the opportunity for the MP to hear first-hand some of the experiences of the young adults taking part in the programme.
 
They shared their views on a number of issues including employment, the lack of affordable rented accommodation, services for those with mental health issues and the need to provide better education on drugs in schools about the impact drugs.
 
Following his visit, Peter Luff commented: “I saw that it is perfectly possible to turn around young lives and give people who have fallen into bad company or made serious errors of judgement a completely fresh start. The testimony I heard from young offenders about the effectiveness and importance of this scheme was really impressive and I congratulate everyone involved.”
 
At a time when the future of probation is being much debated, it is particularly important for Members of Parliament to learn at first-hand about the results that can be achieved through holistic services, in which the third sector and statutory services work in partnership.