Evaluation of the 'SAFE' (Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed) Taskforces

The SAFE Taskforces programme has been implemented in a wider context of government concerns about serious youth violence, and increased emphasis on the need for local partnerships to reduce and address violence. In 2021, the Government set out its ambition for reducing serious violence in the Beating Crime Plan. In 2022, the Serious Violence Duty was introduced, and the Home Office published statutory guidance to support organisations and authorities exercising functions in relation to that duty. The statutory guidance is intended to ensure ‘relevant services work together to share information and allow them to target their interventions, where possible through existing partnership structures, collaborate and plan to prevent and reduce serious violence within their local communities’. It also recognises the ‘vital role’ that schools play in keeping children safe.

DfE launched the ‘SAFE’ (Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed) Taskforces programme in 2022 to prevent young people attending mainstream schools from becoming involved in serious violence, by fostering engagement in education. This was informed by evidence that engagement in education is a protective factor against young people’s involvement in violence. More recently, a nationally representative survey by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) found that 16% of children were victims of violence in the past 12 months, and 47% of children had been either a victim or witness (YEF, 2023). While 47% of children reported that violence and the fear of violence impacted their day-to-day lives, schools were commonly perceived as places of safety, with 85% of children reporting that they felt either very or fairly safe at school (YEF, 2023). Further recent research for the Department for Education (DfE) shows that, while ‘positive relationships with practitioners can protect against violence […]limited resources mean that some children and young people don’t access the right support in time to prevent violence’ (DfE, 2023).