Youth Services

Local authority and voluntary sector youth workers, youth support workers, and youth work volunteers play an important role in safeguarding young people.

Youth services practitioners are uniquely placed to gather information from outside the family home, in the communities where young people are most at risk of criminal exploitation.

Due to the nature of their work, youth workers, youth support workers and youth work volunteers are often privy to local risks for young people and they engage with young people who may go under the radar of other practitioners. They must be included in multi-agency responses and contribute to decision-making at the individual and community level.

Guidance for youth services practitioners

Find further guidance for youth work practitioners, including warning signs for child criminal exploitation, see pages 47-51 of the Practitioner Toolkit.