This report was produced by Crest Advisory, and commissioned by the Youth Endowment Fund in spring 2022 to provide: an analysis of national indicators of serious violence and vulnerability; a survey of over 2,000 children and young people across England and Wales; and engagement with vulnerable young people and their support workers. This report focuses on a qualitative assessment of evidence following engagement with vulnerable young people and their support workers and follows on from the earlier report, ‘Children, violence and vulnerability 2022: A Youth Endowment Fund report into young people’s experiences of violence’.

This final report brings together the four thematic reports previously published by the Commission on Young Lives to set out a policy framework and highlight the scale of investment needed to support vulnerable children and their families.

This report explores the issue of vulnerability as a driver of serious violence, focusing on young people. It summarises the current trends in violence and patterns of vulnerability among children and young people, including the rise in poverty and deprivation. 

This thematic report highlights how the current care system is unfit for purpose and instead of protecting the vulnerable, is putting them at risk of exploitation and involvement in drugs and crime. It makes a series of recommendations to government including the extension of public health informed programmes such as those delivered through Violence Reduction Units (VRUs).

This is the second in a series of reports investigating the drivers of serious violence in England and Wales in recent years. This report explores how the structures of the drug market have changed, how they are linked to violence and whether public service response to the drugs market have been effective. 

This report provides an overview of serious violence, examines the scale and nature of the problem, and the state of our existing knowledge and identifies gaps in our understanding. By bringing together key data and trends into one place, Crest Advisory hope to add greater context and understanding to the problem.

The National Lottery Community Fund convened a consortium of charities and social enterprises with the reach, skills and experience to put young people at the heart of decision making. Through a unique methodology of youth-led research, insight and evidence generation, this programme captured data on:

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• The contributing factors to serious violence identified by young people

• The interventions young people believe are effective

• The similarities and differences between what existing research suggests works and what young people believe works