Evaluations into our work with children and young people
Mid-point Evaluation Into The Kent County Lines Pilot
Date: 2018
Evaluated by: JH Consulting
Project Details:
The Home Office funded St Giles county lines pilot project ran for 12 months from September 2017. It involved providing one-to-one casework support for vulnerable children involved in county lines drug running activity in the Margate and Dover areas, and the establishment of a team of trained volunteer Peer Advisors who could offer additional support to such children.
Key findings:
- By the end of March 2018: 38 children and their families in two areas of Kent and three London boroughs have been provided with one-to-one, in person casework support, with 30 remaining on the caseload
- 7 children/young people and 20 family members have been supported through SafeCall in-depth phone services
- 9 people with lived experience of gangs/county lines/drugs are training as Peer Advisors
- Specialist casework delivered to children and their families has had the greatest impact in helping children to move away from county lines involvement. This finding is confirmed by police, youth offending teams and social services, as well as by children and mothers. The majority of children receiving casework support show positive progress.
- The project shows significant cost benefits for the public sector - Kent police calculate £271,253 of savings from the steep drop in missing episodes alone, and observe that “Clearly if this service was expanded upon, the potential time and cost reduction may prove significant”.
- The project shows an urgent need for sustainable and specialist casework - the pilot reached capacity by the end of 2017 and there is significant unmet demand, with waiting lists of children.