For decades academics, policy makers, practitioners and other experts have deliberated on how best to create safer communities by preventing offending by children. For the past 20 years or more, the body of evidence known as the ‘Child First’ approach has been proven to be the best way of achieving this.

With that in mind, at the YJB we set out to answer two questions:

1. How far do we think we are from achieving a “Child First” system?
2. What could we do to achieve a “Child First” system?

To provide answers we brought together more than 200 stakeholders – all experts in their fields within or connected to youth justice. They came together in groups across England and Wales to provide their thoughts on the current system and ideas for the future.

Using a systems map methodology, with independent validation generously provided by Professor Kate Williams from University of South Wales, we looked at the themes which appeared in stakeholders’ answers.

The results were fascinating. Not just the themes suggesting where we could improve, but also the breadth of ideas for change. It’s difficult to distil the thousands of thoughts we collated into just a few key messages, so I encourage everyone to view the full presentation. But to give you a flavour, across both England and Wales experts consistently raised the need to do the following:

• recognise the youth justice system as part of a wider system and make changes beyond – like improving understanding of why children offend
• collect the right data and to share it with agencies effectively
• enable greater child and workforce participation and collaboration
• challenge current reforms to go further, including police and courts, and to reflect this in changes to inspection
• review training for youth justice staff, including supporting staff to deal with trauma, and in Wales to build on in-depth trauma informed training already delivered

From the above, it’s clear there’s lots to work on to finally achieve a system which fully utilises Child First evidence, but we didn’t just receive a ‘wish list’ from partners, they also came full of brilliant ideas – from quickly implementable, no-cost ideas to long-term ideas involving complex changes to law, policy or investment.

We recognise that with complex systems there is no quick and free panacea. At the YJB we’ve committed to continue bringing together experts and to provide spaces for collaboration and further discussion. We will also consider how we can act on ideas for change within our gift and support others to make changes that are within their power.

As youth justice experts we all agree that the success of the youth justice system is reliant on many organisations and individuals. That’s why I’m asking all of you who are directly and indirectly involved in youth justice to read the findings, share them with colleagues and to consider how you and your organisation can use this information to support your own work and contribute to the changes suggested.

I take great heart in the number of ideas for improvement. For me it shows that there are solutions, that there is great hope and that there are many of us that care deeply for the communities and children who are most affected by crime. Thank you to all of you who took part in discussions and offered your expertise, to those who have helped make sense of the evidence and to everyone who continues to work tirelessly to improve the lives of children and our communities.

The government should develop a clearly articulated long-term vision for the role of contributory benefits for people of working age who are not in paid work. This is the overarching recommendation of a new report produced, and published today (24 October 2022), by the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) under its statutory remit to provide independent advice.

New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance and New Style Employment and Support Allowance – the two contributory benefits that can be received by out-of-work individuals regardless of their financial assets or partners earnings – have been a neglected area of policy over the last decade as the Department for Work and Pensions’ focus has been the nationwide roll out of Universal Credit. This continues a decades-long trend of successive governments allowing working-age contributory benefits to diminish in importance as the role of other working age benefits has increased, for example with the expansion of means-tested support for families with children, renters, and in-work support.

The study found many aspects of these benefits do work well. But it also identified a number of areas where, too often, the system does not, leading to a poor service for those qualifying for contributory benefits. This stems from a lack of attention to, and a lack of investment in, these benefits. With Universal Credit now operating nationwide, the Committee urges the government to develop a long-term vision for these benefits.

Dr Stephen Brien, SSAC Chair:

While the decision about the role of the contributory principle is one for the government, it is appropriate that Ministers clearly articulate the role that they want this historically important component of working-age social security to play in the 21st century. Such reforms can take time and may not be the most immediate development priorities. However, we would welcome commitment to make early discrete operational changes, with a clear statement of longer-term intent to provide claimants and wider stakeholders with a clear direction of travel.

The Committee sets out a range of options for achieving greater alignment, from operational-level change that would deliver access to Universal Credit style technology and unifying work coaches for those on dual claims, through to delivery on the same IT platform and full integration of working-age benefits.

While the full integration of contributory working age benefits within Universal Credit would not be achievable in the short-term having this as a long-run goal would set a clear direction of travel. Having part of Universal Credit available to those deemed to have paid into the system without being subject to a means-test against, for example, their financial assets or partners earnings would have a number of advantages. It would boost take-up and would eliminate many of the problems our study has identified that stem from separate systems struggling to work well with each other. Reforms and operational changes could be made gradually over time in order to deliver improvements to how the system works for claimants and how it is administered that brings us closer to the ultimate destination of integration.

Read the SSAC Occasional Paper 26: The future of working age contributory benefits for those not in paid work.

1. SSAC is an independent advisory body of the Department for Work and Pensions. Its statutory remit is to:

• to provide advice and assistance to the Secretary of State, whether in response to a specific request or on its own initiative
• to scrutinise secondary legislation relating to social security for the benefit of the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions or the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland, and Parliament

2. The Committee Membership comprises: Dr Stephen Brien (Chair), Bruce Calderwood, Carl Emmerson, Kayley Hignell, Philip Jones, Grainne McKeever, Seyi Obakin, Charlotte Pickles and Liz Sayce.

3. Further enquiries should be directed to Denise Whitehead, Committee Secretary, phone: 0300 046 0323.