On 27 January 2026, a White Paper ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’ was published, setting out a series of sweeping reforms to policing. In proposals described by the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP as ‘the most significant modernisation in nearly 200 years’, several changes could serve to significantly alter the oversight, governance, and day to day function of policing in England and Wales. 

Key changes

• The creation of the National Police Service (NPS), incorporating agencies including the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing, the National Crime Agency and Counter Terrorism Policing into a single organisation to focus on serious and organised crime, and threats to national security. This proposal seeks to ‘lift the burden of delivering national responsibilities from local forces, ensuring that their focus is entirely on policing their streets.’ 

• A substantial reduction in the number of local forces, possibly by altering force boundaries and merging existing forces into fewer, larger forces. There are currently approximately 43 local police force areas across England and Wales. The White Paper states that an independent review will be undertaken into force structures, resulting in a significant reduction to the number of forces by the end of the next Parliament.  

• The abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) by 2028, to be replaced by Strategic Authority Mayors and local council leaders through Policing and Crime Boards. Over time, these Boards will be adapted to provide the governance of future fewer, larger police forces. 

• Creation of Police.AI, a new centre for the utilisation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered tools and software within policing to automate manual processes. 

What does the White Paper say about young adults? 

The White Paper proposes to continue investment into the Young Futures Programme through Young Futures Hubs and Prevention Partnerships, to reduce the involvement of young people in crime. Highlighting the importance of early intervention, the proposals reference Violence Reduction Units and the County Lines Programme as interventions that prevent young people from being drawn into crime and reduce knife crime. 

What is the Young Futures Programme? 

The Young Futures Programme is a government-led programme consisting of Young Futures Prevention Partnerships and Young Futures Hubs, described in the National Youth Strategy as a ‘new approach to tackle knife crime and violence.’ 

Young Futures Prevention Partnerships ‘identify young people vulnerable to being drawn into crime at local authority level and provide them with support at the right time’, through multi-disciplinary panels run in Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) areas. These Panels will aim to prevent crime and engage in early intervention by identifying and referring young people at risk of crime to a range of different support services, including the Young Futures Hubs.  

Young Futures Hubs aim to bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level. In July 2025, the Prime Minister set out plans to open 50 hubs over the next four years. £2 million has been made available to eight local authorities this financial year to design and implement ‘early adopter’ Young Futures Hubs, in: Nottingham, Tower Hamlets, County Durham, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, and Leeds. 

Our view 

Despite welcome language around prevention, our concern remains that an over-investment in policing to the detriment of well-funded, community-based children and young adult provision continues to entrench feelings amongst young adults of being overpoliced and disinvested in. Instead, the police should support diversions from the justice system for young adults, and maximise opportunities to move away from crime and develop positive identities as they navigate the transition to adulthood.  

The ‘bobbies on the beat’ community policing angle, referenced within the White Paper with the commitment to deliver 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel in police forces across England and Wales, comes from a place of viewing increased police presence as a safety measure, ignoring the reality that many young adults – particularly marginalised and overpoliced communities including racially minoritised people, girls and young women, those with care experience and people from socioeconomically deprived communities – feel less safe, and even victimised by the police. Work to divert young adults away from the criminal justice system cannot be relegated to a specific programme or pilot, but rather requires a whole-systems approach and a rethinking of police contact and response tactics. T2A advocates for the police to receive specific training for managing contact with young adults, particularly on stop and search and when making arrests, and that innovative diversion programmes delivered by grassroots, community-based organisations are commissioned and sustainably funded by the Strategic Authority Mayors and Policing and Crime Boards that will come to replace PCCs. 

The increasing reliance on AI within policing is a cause for serious concern. We already know the racialised nature of facial recognition tools, and the impact this has had on community relationships and trust and confidence in the police, particularly amongst young adults. In a recent visioning workshop with T2A alliance members, supporters, and partners, participants were fearful of algorithmic bias in tools used for risk assessment, sentencing recommendations, and predictive policing, noting that these systems often rely on historical data that reflect existing inequalities, such as over-policing in certain communities. Only recently, a man of South Asian heritage was arrested in Southampton on suspicion of burglary as a result of a facial recognition error, despite being 100 miles away from the scene in Milton Keynes, and the suspect looking ten years younger.  Without careful design and oversight, AI tools can reinforce and perpetuate racial biases. T2A workshop participants called for pre-emptive reform to prevent embedding discrimination into automated decision-making. 

Looking forward 

Our vision is to create a blueprint for a justice system that sees young adults not as problems to be solved or issues to be fixed, but as people shaped by their experiences with incredible capacities to progress, grow, and change. Policing structures, responses and adjoining programmes need to reflect this sentiment, and reform not only their geographic boundaries and use of technology, but approach to young adults from a perspective of compassion and guidance, rather than criminalisation and surveillance. T2A is concerned that reform that is not co-produced with communities will have little positive impact, and hope that the implementation of these proposals includes close consultation with young adults with experience of police contact and the organisations that work with and support them.  

On Thursday 22 January 2026, the Sentencing Act received Royal Assent – marking the most significant shift in sentencing law in years. Many of the changes were taken forward from recommendations made to the independent Sentencing Review, led by David Gauke, which T2A responded to in full last year.  

Although it is now set out in law, many of the provisions will take time to come into force.

Key changes 

The main changes relevant to T2A’s work include: 

• Deferment of sentences (delaying the imposition of a prison sentence in favour of a suspended sentence or community order, subject to compliance with requirements, such as drug treatment) increased from six to 12 months. 

• The introduction of a presumption to suspend prison sentences of 12 months or less; combined with more stringent licence conditions after release, with closer supervision in the community. 

• Changes to community sentence requirements including expanded use of curfews, exclusion or restriction zones, tagging, behaviour requirements and rehabilitation conditions. 

Our view

The provisions in the Sentencing Act marked a series of missed opportunities to take a bespoke approach to young adults to ultimately divert them away from the criminal justice system at a developmentally crucial point in their lives. Our position is that the criminal justice system, as it currently operates, is not fit for purpose to meet the distinct and pressing needs that young adults have, and that it serves as an institution of harm rather than rehabilitation.  

Despite this, there are provisions that we are largely in agreement with. In our response to the Sentencing Review, we acknowledged that deferred community sentences and other forms of diversion are ways to alleviate the pressures on the system, and we are pleased to see more credence given to these options within the Act. 

Deferred sentences 

The increasing of the time allowed for a deferred sentence is positive – we recognise that for many young adults, positive change can take time, to allow for the processing of trauma; the effects of poverty; problems with drugs and alcohol; mental ill health; experiences of domestic abuse; and violence. Working with young adults to overcome these challenges is not an overnight fix, therefore we welcome to increase in the time to defer sentences. 

Custodial sentences 

Whilst it is a positive step in the right direction to introduce a presumption to suspend short prison sentences – particularly for those engaged in low-level crime due to unmet needs – we know that young adults continue to be disproportionately overrepresented in custody¹, those who continue to receive custodial sentences are receiving even harsher treatment. 

Since 2010, average sentence lengths for young adults rose from 16.3 to 24.5 months², and racial disproportionality widened rather than narrowed – Black young adults now appear in court at three times the rate of white counterparts³ and receive sentences 80 per cent longer on average⁴. The rate of immediate custodial sentences for young adults remains twice as high as for those over 24, and has risen to more than 12 times higher than for under 18s.⁵ This means that many young adults will be out of scope to benefit from the move away from short prison sentences, because they are above the 12-month threshold.  

T2A is disappointed that the opportunity for a specific young adult sentencing framework for 18–25-year-olds was missed from these reforms. T2A has consistently highlighted long-standing neuroscientific evidence on the maturation of young adults, which shows that the brain remains in an active state of development until about 25. In practice, this means that young adults have not fully developed the cognitive abilities which are necessary for prosocial behaviour, and are more likely to have immature and compromised core cognitive abilities, including poor impulse control, and engagement in risk-taking behaviours. 

Despite the maintaining of the status quo within this Act, we continue to advocate for a separate statutory sentencing framework for young adults, akin to that for children, reducing the lengths of adult sentences by a certain proportion, in line with T2A’s substantial evidence base demonstrating the unique needs and experiences of young adults. 

Community sentences

Although court appearances for young adults fell by 76 per cent between 2007 and 2019,⁶ those who do find themselves in court for offences classified as serious have been increasingly more likely to receive custodial sentences, and less likely to receive community sentences. Provisions within the Sentencing Act to prioritise community sentences over short custodial sentences, and longer deferred sentences, are welcome, though we have concerns about an increasingly punitive approach to community sentences, including expanded use of curfews, exclusions or restriction zones, and tagging. 

T2A’s view is that there is scope to develop young adult-specific community orders as part of a distinct framework, linking in with the above proposal for a separate statutory framework for sentencing young adults. An approach specifically for young adults should be grounded in therapeutic principles, supporting identity shift and the development of social capital – particularly belonging – alongside purposeful activity. Learnings can be taken from existing or previously existing initiatives, such the Youth to Adult (Y2A) Hub in Newham, London: a multi-agency hub for all young people on probation integrating support with drugs and alcohol, emotional wellbeing, restorative justice and housing (amongst other things) under one roof; or the Intensive Alternative to Custody (IAC) pilot programme in Greater Manchester, which targeted young adults aged 18-25 who were at risk of short–term imprisonment by combining intensive probation supervision with various interventions, including education, employment support, and mental health services.  

Our concern is that by focusing on punitive and restrictive elements of community sentences, such as curfews, exclusion zones and electronic monitoring, we lose the opportunity to implement developmentally-appropriate community solutions for young adults that address the root cause of their involvement in crime, that can serve to prevent reoffending and enable young adults to break free from cycles of harm.  

We also know that many community services have a long way to go in terms of being gender-specific, anti-racist and culturally competent, and would like to see increased funding for community services diverted to small, specialist organisations who are able to deliver support to racially minoritised and marginalised young adults, and who operate in heart of their communities.  

Looking forward 

Ultimately, our vision includes legislation and policy around young adults and criminal justice to be centred around a mission-led, system-wide shift away from punitive, ‘one-size-fits-all’ adult-oriented sentencing, and moving towards a wraparound, tailored, developmentally informed approach for young adults. Over the last few months, we’ve been busy co-creating a vision and blueprint that reimagines and transforms justice for young adults, in partnership with practitioners; young adults with lived experience; academics; and private, public and civil society organisations. Together, we’ve been deliberating on how we achieve a shared goal: reimagining ‘justice’ not merely as punishment, or retribution – but as a way forward, grounded in fairness, care, accountability, and renewed hope for all. 

For young adults, this is about far more than sentencing: it is about whether the system continues to compound existing trauma, particularly by placing them in criminogenic institutions widely regarded as not fit for purpose, or instead responds in safe, evidence-based and trauma-responsive ways that recognise experiences of harm, the capacity for change, and the importance of proportionate accountability. Getting this right will not only shape individual futures, but strengthen the safety and wellbeing of our communities. 

If you’ve been following our work, you may have noticed a pause in updates from the criminal justice programme and T2A. But that pause wasn’t silence, it was reflection. A moment to listen, learn, and recalibrate.

Since stepping into this role last November, I’ve had the privilege of immersing myself in the legacy of T2A, while continuing the journey I’ve been on for over 30 years as a pioneer and champion in the broader justice reform movement. And in recent months, it’s become clear: we’re at a crossroads.

We’ve seen policy shifts that feel more reactive than reflective. The Sentencing Review included some welcome progressive elements, but we were disappointed that it failed to recognise young adults as a distinct group with specific needs, despite our substantive submission . This omission, alongside the Sentencing Council’s new guidelines, reflects a troubling trend, the adoption or manipulation of a ‘two-tier justice’ narrative – the notion that women, racially minoritised, and other marginalised groups receive preferential treatment through the criminal justice system. The evidence, however, does not support this contention.

For decades, underrepresented groups have experienced a two-tier system in practice, a reality that has driven long-standing campaigns for racial and gender justice. The current political weaponisation of this rhetoric is not only flawed, but unsafe. It risks undermining progress, embedding regressive policies, and distorting public understanding of justice reform. We must challenge this narrative with clarity, truth, and strategy.

A Time to Rethink, Reframe and Reimagine

This isn’t about despair, it’s about direction. We’ve taken a step back to ask: What does justice look like for young adults today? And more importantly: Who gets to shape that vision?

That’s why we conveneda powerful and diverse group on 30 June—people from different communities, professions, and lived experiences, each bringing their own insights and passions—for a day of deep conversation, bold imagining, and commitment to radical change.

Our workshop, Shaping Justice Together: A New Vision for Young Adults, was more than an event, it was a powerful moment of collective intention. A call to co-create a new blueprint for a justice system that sees young adults not as problems to be solved or issues to be fixed, but as people shaped by their experiences, many of whom have lived through significant harm. We aim to develop a vision that embraces the full complexity of young adult lives without diminishing it, that doesn’t ask what’s wrong with you, but rather what happened to you, and seeks to restore, not erase, the humanity of everyone involved.

Imagine a system that understands the duality of being both survivors and, at times, agents of harm. One that recognises their actions, choices and behaviours cannot be separated from the contexts they’ve lived through, often shaped by trauma, inequity, and unmet needs.

Imagine an approach that holds space for healing, accountability, and restoration, not only for young adults, but also for those impacted by their actions. One that believes growth is possible, change can happen, and reconciliation can emerge when the right care and support are in place.

Now imagine a system that not only recognises the dual nature of state and social harm—where children and young adults can be harmed by state agencies as well as by social inequality—but also begins to disrupt these cycles. Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline: the systemic pattern where disadvantaged young people, particularly from racialised communities, are pushed out of education and into the criminal justice system. And beyond that, recognising the growing reality of the prison-to-prison pipeline: the ways in which prisons themselves become criminogenic spaces that deepen harm and entrench cycles of offending, not only for young adults inside, but also for the young adult staff working within them.

Alarmingly, we are seeing increasing numbers of young staff committing offences, particularly within prison environments, and crossing the threshold from employee to prisoner themselves—caught in the very system they once served. These are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of the acute trauma and the substantial challenges facing a highly stressed and often demoralised workforce, highlighting a system in urgent need of transformation. Our young adult staff, many of whom carry their own lived experience, need the same care, compassion, support, safety, and accountability to do this work well. Healing must be systemic, not selective. We need a system that understands justice isn’t just about those impacted by it, but also about those working within it.

This is a call to reimagine justice not as punishment, but as a pathway forward, rooted in fairness, compassion, responsibility, and renewed hope for all.

Narrative Change: From Harm to Healing

This is not just a shift in language, but a shift in values, and a focus on what works. A move from harm to healing, from isolation to inclusion, from conflict to connection. One that honours young adults’ potential, rather than simply punishing their mistakes, and strengthens the communities around them, rather than further tearing them apart.

We’re not alone in this. Across the sector, funders and partners are coming together to challenge harmful rhetoric and build a shared strategy for narrative transformation. The idea of a ‘two-tier justice system’ that favours women or other disadvantaged, marginalised, and underrepresented groups isn’t just misleading, it’s dangerous. It obscures the structural inequalities that have long defined our justice system, particularly for young adults from racialised and marginalised communities, including young women and girls.

We’re working closely with the Corston Independent Funders Coalition, the Harm to Healing Coalition, and UK narrative change with partner funders, to align our efforts, reduce duplication, and amplify what works. The Harm to Healing Coalition, born out of the work of Dr. Patrick Williams, Temi Mwale, and the HtH Resource Group has helped set a strong narrative focus for reimagining justice through a new lens. Because the truth is there’s incredible work happening at the grassroots. Just look at Spark Inside’s recent roundtable, which brought together young men, practitioners, and policymakers to reimagine wellbeing and racial equity in custody, building on the work of their being well being equal campaign and report. Or Daddyless Daughters, who are pioneering transformative work with girls and young women affected by family breakdown, abuse, and adversity, helping them build healthy, sustainable lives and relationships, and preventing criminal and sexual exploitation. These are just two examples of the powerful, community-rooted work that we are supporting to drive change from the ground up.

We explored the map, the model, the modus operandi, and the missing pieces and the energy in the room was electric! We’ll share key outcomes in a future blog, but for now, we’re excited to announce that the second in the series will take place in September.

What’s Next for T2A?

Over the next year, we’re focused on four key priorities:

– Synthesising 20 years of T2A evidence into a clear, actionable vision for young adult justice, and embedding systems change across policing, prisons, probation, public affairs and public policy.

– Embedding lived and learned experience at the heart of our work through a new T2A Alliance advisory panel and group.

– Advancing racial and gender justice by challenging systemic bias and centring equity in all we do

– Driving strategic communications to support the next phase of T2A and counter harmful narratives.

We know the road ahead won’t be easy. But we also know that change doesn’t come from waiting; it comes from working together to drive radical reformation and bring about total transformation. Not just of systems, but of the very vision of justice itself.

What comes next doesn’t have to be a system at all… but a radically different future rooted in humanity, safety, and love.

Annmarie Lewis, July 2025

T2A Transition to Adulthood held its first workshop last week as part of our Young Adult Justice Transformed project.  The energy, ideas, and commitment to change were captured by this fabulous graphic by Raquel Duran from More Than Minutes.  

Keep an eye on this website to find out about future workshops and other T2A news.  The next workshop focuses on what a re-imagined system for young adults might look like, the third will present our literature and rapid evidence review, and the final workshop will focus on developing a narrative strategy to bring about meaningful change.”

Barrow Cadbury Trust/T2A has responded to the final Sentencing Review Report. We believe there is much in this report to welcome.  However, T2A is disappointed that more consideration was not given to the specific needs of, and the evidence we have amassed around effective responses to, young adults which we highlighted in our response to the consultation.  Read our response to the final Sentencing Reivew Report May 2025.

A new duty to review homicides involving offensive weapons is unlikely to achieve its aim of reducing weapons-enabled homicides, whatever else it may accomplish, according to a recent Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) publication ‘Learning from Tragedy? The potential benefits, risks, and limitations of offensive weapons homicide reviews’.

Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews (OWHRs) were introduced by the previous Conservative Government in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. Their stated purpose is to help national and local agencies understand the causes of serious violence and prevent future weapons-enabled homicides. The report by Dr Susie Hulley and Dr Tara Young examines the potential benefits and risks of this new duty, particularly its impact on young adult safety. The authors analysed evidence about existing homicide reviews, such as Domestic Violence Homicide Reviews, which have been in operation for several decades.

Homicide reviews, they argue, are not without merit. The research found that reviews can offer additional, important information about what happened, not least of all to a victim’s family and friends. However, the report finds that the recommendations from homicide reviews are frequently not acted upon, raising serious concerns whether the learning from these cases is being effectively implemented – particularly given the lack of statutory duty or resources to do so.

If, after the pilot, OWHRs are rolled out nationally, the report provides recommendations that could mitigate some of the identified risks of existing homicide reviews, including for a publicly accessible national database of findings and recommendations. However, the authors conclude that OWHRs are unlikely to prevent weapon-enabled homicides involving young adults, and urge the government to put well-evidenced interventions that reduce serious violence at the forefront of its approach to serious violence.

Today, Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) released ‘Trapped in the turnstile: Understanding the Impacts of the Criminal Justice System on Gypsy, Roma, Traveller young adults and their families’, offering first-hand insights into young Romany, Roma and Traveller people’s experiences of the criminal justice system.

Partnering with specialist organisations Hibiscus Initiatives, York Travellers Trust, TravellerSpace, and Travelling Ahead, as part of a two-year project for the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, FFT held focus groups with young Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people in prison as well as interviewing their families.

Key findings included:

• Lack of support throughout the custodial journey for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and their families.
• Lack of accessible and culturally appropriate education, practical courses and workshops, or support for mental health needs.
• Poor awareness and understanding of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Experiences were varied, but underlying themes of hopelessness, and unrelenting discrimination.

The report shines a light on the prejudice which permeates every life stage for Romany, Irish Traveller, Roma and New Traveller, with respondents referencing exposure to the CJS from an early age.

Testimonies also spoke of the ‘revolving door’ where people in prison find themselves trapped in a turnstile without the necessary tools to secure stability post-release.

The report calls for:

• Effective alternatives to remand for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller offenders.
• Signposting and support for individuals at every stage of the criminal justice pathway, including co-produced, accessible resources for families.
• Cultural competency training for staff including probation/parole staff across CJS.
• Culturally appropriate education and additional practical courses for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller prisoners.

Designed to support professionals working with young Gypsy, Roma and Traveller in the CJS, the report includes key recommendations so that in the future, no one gets trapped in the turnstile.

Read the full report and a summary version.

Report author and Criminal Justice Policy Officer at Friends, Families and Travellers, Sam Worrall,  said:

“This report is the culmination of two years of focus groups and interviews with Romany, Roma and Traveller people currently experiencing the unrelenting gears of the criminal justice system.

‘Trapped in the Turnstile’ provides a crucial platform for prisoners and their families to have their experiences amplified, in the hope that those responsible will take vital steps to ensure no one is subjected to unfair and unequal treatment, regardless of their background.”

Debbie Pippard, Barrow Cadbury Trust Director of Programmes said:

“Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are among the most marginalised in the UK, and vastly over-represented in the incarcerated population…Despite this, their voices and views are seldom heard. We warmly welcome this report, which contains a wealth of contributions from young Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.

We trust that this important report marks the start of increased understanding of their views, experiences and culture, leading to improvements in the criminal justice response and a decrease in numbers imprisoned.” 

A new MoJ ‘process evaluation’ of Newham Y2A Probation Hub, a specialist youth to adulthood transitions service, which Barrow Cadbury Trust’s T2A (Transition to Adulthood Alliance) has supported for several years, has concluded that it is a successful model. The process evaluation took two years to look in detail at the implementation of this specialist young adult Hub in East London.  

The model is based on T2A evidence of what works for young adults. Over the last 20 years, T2A has focused on how best justice services can support young adults to build positive lives away from crime. T2A’s core ask is for a distinct service that takes the best elements from youth justice services and develops them for young adult use. These services would be ‘young adult first,’ trauma-informed, strengths-based, and build strong pro-social identities.  

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), with support from the Ministry of Justice, London Probation Service and the Treasury’s Shared Outcomes fund, set up the Hub in March 2022 to respond to the specific needs of young adults on probation in Newham. It was purposefully and carefully designed to meet the specific needs of young adult, with input from young adults themselves. 

The set up 

A purpose-built space was developed so that young adults could be supported separately to older adults. Young adults were consulted during the design stage and all staff had specialist training in trauma-informed practice, neurodiversity, and developmental maturation. Staff worked with young adults on strengths-based and future-focused approaches. Flexibility around breach and enforcement was part of the ethos, and young adults’ successes were celebrated – a model adapted from youth justice services. 

Alongside the mandatory service provided by probation, probation staff also supported young adults to access voluntary sector services such as mentoring and coaching, speech and language support, restorative justice, and housing support, along with education, training, and employment advice.   Those young adults with mental health needs or who face extra neurodiversity challenges could access creative therapy.  

Findings  

Barrow Cadbury Trust’s ambition in supporting this project was that the Hub would be a template for the delivery of probation services to young adults across England and Wales.  

The key finding of the process evaluation, was that the Hub had the potential to shape young adults’ maturational development and enable them to develop self-belief, build resilience, and regulate their behaviour.  

Staff were positive about the impact of the Hub on young adults’ compliance and engagement, notably in the successful completion of sentences, as well as on young adults’ lives. The bedrock of the service is developing responsibility and forward planning skills that are all important for desistance. The evaluation found that staff were well-informed about the specific challenges facing young adults and supported them in responding to trauma in an informed, and person-centred way. Multiple services all on one site meant same day referrals were possible, and there were relatively short waiting times for first appointments, so that momentum built early on and made building relationships easier.   

The evaluation highlighted the difficult life experiences that these young adults have faced in their short lives, including social and economic disadvantage, poverty and racial discrimination, reflecting the fact that Newham is the second most disadvantaged borough in London. Many had high levels of support needs because of their lack of maturity, their thinking, behaviour, attitudes and lifestyles. The evaluators recognised that these adversities and life changes take time to work through and overcome. Practitioners acknowledged this: “It takes time for young people who haven’t had the same benefits, the positive inputs, the positive attachments, the community. If they haven’t had that, they need time, and time isn’t two years … for long lasting change.” 

How the Hub supported young adults 

This model of delivering probation services to young adults, where the emphasis is on preparing them for a stable adulthood and independence, is significantly different to the offer available to older adults. Six core values  – safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment, and inclusivity are the essence of the Hub’s approach.  

Although it is not the function of probation to turn children into adults, probation services can support the goal of reducing offending by assisting in the young person’s journey to independent adulthood. Young adults interviewed had a sense that maturity is something that develops and with the support of the Hub staff they felt empowered to put in place the building blocks to change their lifestyles.  

It wasn’t just the young adults who recognised the benefits of the Hub. Staff welcomed the greater professional autonomy and flexibility they had as well as the advantages of holding pre-breach interviews before proceedings were necessary.   

Young adults found the Hub a safe and welcoming area to engage, both with their probation officer and in therapeutic activities. This holistic approach made a crucial contribution to long-term positive outcomes. The wraparound support gives young adults the space to grow and learn about themselves.  

The evaluation found that the Hub’s emphasises on cultural awareness and gender-specific services was appreciated by staff and young adults. This emphasis ensures that the diverse backgrounds and experiences of individuals are respected and valued, fostering a sense of belonging and understanding. The gender-specific approach recognises the unique needs and challenges faced by women, and how important  tailored support is in a separate space, alongside other women’s services.  

Outcomes/Experiences 

One objective of the hub is to improve partnership working and information sharing between services so that young adults are less likely to fall through the net when children’s services support falls away at 18. The evaluation found that staff were able to develop strong, collaborative, trusted relationships with each other, with a shared purpose, and gain knowledge, formal and informally, from specialist professionals, a greater diversity of partners, as well as tapping into ongoing training and development. Probation officers benefitted from more time with young adults due to smaller caseloads. 

The future 

So far, more than 400 young adults have engaged with probation services in the Y2A Hub. The evaluation has demonstrated that success or failure of the service cannot be captured solely in reoffending data.  T2A agrees with the evaluators that stage-specific services which help young people develop into mature adults are crucial. But we also recognise the importance of finding metrics for a young adult’s growth in their outlook, perceptions, maturity and self-identity. 

The fact that staff and young adults interviewed were unanimously in favour of rolling out similar hubs in other parts of London and more widely is testament to the value of the model and the careful evidence-informed work that went into its planning. This is an innovation that the Government should be grasping with both hands, in line with its mission to “reduce the barriers to opportunity” and its ambition to tackle violence amongst young people.  And the probation service deserves huge credit for putting evidence into practice and in so doing showing that the principles espoused by T2A have benefited young adults involved in the justice system.  

This positive evaluation and the 20 years of T2A’s experience strongly underpin the need for young adults to receive specialist support, delivered in dedicated settings. 

 T2A welcomes the publication of this report.  It is a positive sign that young adults are increasingly on statutory agencies’, practitioners’, and policy makers’ agendas. 

It confirms that while there has been a fall in the number of young adults in contact with probation services, young adults are still disproportionately represented on the probation caseload (19.5%) compared to the general population (9.6%).  This decrease is to be welcomed and we see it as a real opportunity for the creation of more distinct services for young adults for them to be supported as they make the transition to adulthood. 

 T2A was pleased to provide a sounding board for HMPPS as they developed their policy on young adults embodied in the 2022 Young Adult Probation Framework. The Framework pulls together the evidence on maturity and provides a central resource for guidance to probation practitioners and managers on how best to work with young adults. Whilst HMPPS has stated its commitment to a holistic, trauma-informed approach for young adults, probation services have had numerous other priorities, including reorganisation, staff shortages, and resulting capacity issues. We would like to see HMPPS refresh the Framework, as well as relaunching it, along with a clear statement on how they plan to evaluate the outcomes of the Framework given the challenges around data identified by the Probation Inspectorate. 

This Inspectorate report references the Target Operating Model which outlines expectations for the delivery of probation services. Early iterations of the model included recognising young adults as a cohort requiring specialist pathways, as is the case for women (for whom a dedicated Women’s Justice Board has recently been announced), and those with neurodiverse needs. This was not implemented, but T2A would welcome a specialist young adults’ pathway being put back on the table now that there are fewer young adults entering the system.  A model for co-commissioning appropriate community-based provision is also urgently needed. 

 Young adults and practitioners spoken to as part of the report emphasised the importance of probation officers taking time to build trusting relationships by listening and understanding. T2A continues to argue for smaller caseloads for those working with young adults: that additional investment paves the way for a move away from crime. The ‘plasticity’ of young adults’ brains means that the early years of adulthood are a particularly good time for learning, personal growth and the development of a pro-social identity and for ensuring reliability and time-keeping etc.  

We would also like HMPPS to look at how practitioners can have greater freedom and flexibility to exercise their professional judgment and creativity to engage effectively with young adults. The MoJ/MOPAC Newham hub is an example of how to do this.   HMPPS and Police and Crime Commissioners could co-commission specialist services that plug gaps in the criminal justice and other systems that many young adults fall through. 

 The Inspectorate report raises important concerns around race and gender which are also a particular focus for T2A. We are disappointed to see that delivering race and gender-sensitive approaches remains a significant challenge, brought to life by the poor experiences of both young adults and staff recorded in the report. 

 T2A is very happy to speak to HMPPS as it seeks to apply and embed the Framework and evaluate the efficacy of the Target Operating Model. We are encouraged that HMPPS seeks to promote the evidence on young adults to practitioners through its training and online resources.  T2A is currently working with HMPPS and Revolving Doors to deliver a series of seminars for probation practitioners focused on the transition to adulthood. 

Read the inspectorate report 

Vacancy, Programme Manager, Criminal Justice

Barrow Cadbury Trust’s Criminal Justice programme focuses on young adults in the criminal justice system and on the intersections between racial justice, gender justice and criminal justice. The Transition to Adulthood campaign is at the heart of our criminal justice work and has led to significant improvements in the way the criminal justice system responds to young adults. We have also been engaged in significant work challenging the over-representation of racialised people involved in the system and in campaigning for a more appropriate response for women.

Our current Criminal Justice programme manager, Laurie Hunte, is moving on, and we are looking for someone with knowledge of criminal justice, experience of the third sector and an understanding of how to build a successful campaign for change to be our new Criminal Justice Programme Manager. Using your skills and experience you will help us to achieve our mission of improving the criminal justice system for young adults and eliminating race and gender discrimination within it.

We have a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and we encourage applications from people with personal experience of the social justice and human rights issues we seek to address. Any offer of employment will be made subject to references, confirmation of the right to work in the UK where we will need to see original documents.

Before you apply have a look at the Criminal Justice page on the Barrow Cadbury Trust website.

How to apply and interview date:
Please email Maddy Rooke-Ley: [email protected] with your CV and a covering letter setting out how your skills and experience meet the person specification (no more than 2 sides of A4.)

Deadline for applications 3 October 2024 at 8:00am. Please also complete and return the Equal Opportunities form and note our Privacy statement.

Interviews for short listed candidates will be held on Wednesday 16th October at our office at The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR.

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