New ‘young adult first’ probation hub should be implemented across UK

New report co-authored by MDX finds the specialist probation hub could have the potential to reduce reoffending

A specialist probation hub which works with young adults aged 18 to 25 is an example of best practice that should be implemented across the country, say researchers.

Academics at Middlesex University and Sheffield Hallam University, funded by the Ministry of Justice, evaluated the Youth2Adulthood (Y2A) probation hub in Newham, East London, over a two-year period.

Their findings, published today in a report on www.gov.uk, showed the Y2A hub reduced pressure on probation staff, made young people feel supported and could have the potential to reduce reoffending.

The Y2A hub involved probation staff working alongside external partner services to respond to the unique needs of young adults and to combine multiple services in one place. The hub offered support through a mentoring and coaching team, mental health services, education, training and employment guidance, housing advice and speech and language therapy.

In interviews with researchers, staff and young adults were overwhelmingly positive about the hub and unanimously agreed this type of bespoke service should be rolled out across London and other parts of England and Wales.

The young adults particularly valued the range of support services available and felt supported in ways they realised they needed earlier in life and that may have played a part in their behaviour.

Staff at the hub undertook specialist training in neurodiversity including in autism and ADHD, trauma-informed practice and in the developing maturity of young adults. A separate women's-only space was also provided.

The staff found working in the hub helped ease the pressure on their workload, as they could quickly and easily refer young adults into the other support services available there.

They also felt working with other services enabled them to learn more from other professionals and work more holistically.

Previous research has shown that having access to the right support and seeing a future ahead of them can help prevent young adults from reoffending. An impact evaluation – guided by the findings from this study – is currently being carried out by The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to see the impact of the hub on reoffending and other measures.

Dr Jenni Ward, Associate Professor in Criminology at Middlesex University’s School of Law and Social Sciences said: “Presence in the hub enabled seeing first-hand how young adults responded to this bespoke service. They found the hub welcoming, friendly and less stigmatising than other justice system services they had experienced. The whole-person, individualised support gave them hope for their future.”

Jake Phillips, from Sheffield Hallam University’s School of Law, said: “Evidence shows young adults are over-represented in probation caseloads and more likely to reoffend than older adults. Young adults are in a unique period of their lives and the right support can have a significant impact on patterns of criminal behaviour, as we’ve seen with the Y2A hub.

“By designing the hub for the specific needs of young people we’re seeing better relationships between them and the probation staff, they’re voluntarily accessing the extra support from other services and are feeling more hopeful about their futures.”

One of the young men using the hub said: “I feel like they understand that I am still basically still a kid, I’m still a young adult, I still have life lessons to learn and I still have education to go through, I still have all these roadblocks that I need to break down to become an adult and so I feel really at home in the Hub.”

Read the full report on the government's website.

Find out more about studying Criminology at Middlesex University.

Photo by Ryan Tauss on Unsplash.