More than 300 children helped by new scheme

More than 300 children have been helped in the first six months of an early intervention scheme, Northamptonshire's police, fire and crime commissioner's (PFCC) office has said.

The PFCC's early intervention team places specialist youth workers with neighbourhood police teams and school staff to help target anti-social behaviour and initial signs of concern.

The aim is to provide early support to young people and families in order to reduce pressure on emergency and police services later on.

"The benefits are clear: stronger safeguarding, safer communities, and many more positive futures for young people," said Northamptonshire's PFCC Danielle Stone.

"I'm proud of the impact my targeted intervention officers have made over the last six months to help prevent problems from escalating, reduce demand on emergency services and allowing enforcement to focus where it is most needed."

Since January, causing a nuisance in the community has been the top reason a youth worker has needed to intervene with a young person, followed by assault and violence without injury.

The scheme has helped a total of 310 children, as young as nine, and offers one-to-one support, family sessions and advice for up to 12 weeks.

It focuses on addressing the causes of behaviour before more problems can arise.

Initially, police officers were referring young people for help, but the ways how these referrals can be made have now been extended.

It has included putting youth workers into a number of schools, which have been identified using police data.

Most referrals have come from Northampton, Kettering and Wellingborough, where seven secondary schools across the three areas are working with the team.

Students are usually identified by schools' heads of year or safeguarding staff to try to prevent them being expelled further down the line, the team said.

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