Young Futures Panels in the Humber Region
In 2025, the Home Office introduced a multi-agency approach known as Young Futures Panels (YFPs), inspired by work from the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit. These panels identify and offer support to children and young people who are vulnerable to being drawn into crime or serious violence.
Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) across England and Wales have been provided with funding to pilot the approach in 2025/26 and 2026/27. Following a successful application, Hull City Council was selected to pilot the panel in the Humber area. The Humber Violence Prevention Partnership (VPP) - the regional VRU - is providing access to an additional £400,000 of government funds to support the set up and running of the panel over the two years, including expanding support for young people.
The panel is jointly chaired by Hull City Council and Humberside Police, with representation from organisations involved in supporting the city’s young people. It operates based on analysis of police data to identify young people who may benefit from support, with a view to taking referrals from other sources in the future. The approach builds on existing work by Hull’s Early Help Partnership.
About Young Futures Panels
YFPs support earlier, more effective interventions for children and young people at risk of poor life outcomes and increased vulnerability to criminal involvement. By identifying these individuals sooner, the initiative makes sure they are offered access to tailored support.
The panel brings together key stakeholders – such as the police, children’s social care, youth justice services and education – who share a collective responsibility for safeguarding and improving the futures of these young people.
They aim to reach young people who might otherwise remain ‘unseen’, while also addressing the unmet needs of those who are visible but insufficiently supported. This vital role depends on the strength and cohesion of existing multi-agency partnerships.
Key partners attend the panels to agree a suitable intervention for the individuals. If required, each partner provides additional data and insights to support key decisions for intervention.
Our Role in Supporting the Panels
As well as providing the funding and monitoring progress on behalf of the Home Office, we are working to support the panel with access to data and analysis to understand risk factors and linking it up with our other interventions and partners.
Through the Humber VPP board, we are sharing progress and learnings with other local authority areas to inform any wider roll out after the pilot phase.
Selection Criteria
The eligibility of children and young people for the panels is dependent on several factors, including:
- The young person is not known to Hull Youth Justice.
- The young person is not open to children’s social care.
- Their offence outcomes have been classed as ‘no further action.’
- They are aged under 18.
Lessons Learnt So Far
A key lesson has been the strong influence of language on parental engagement. The reaction to the phrase “serious violence” has shown the need to prioritise relationship‑building and supportive framing in early discussions. This will now be built into all frontline engagement approaches.
The cohort of children under 10 display very good school attendance, challenging assumptions that younger children in the early intervention bracket present with disengagement or persistent absence. Future approaches will incorporate school‑based partnership working and earlier emotional wellbeing interventions rather than attendance‑related support.
While terms of reference, information sharing agreements and referral routes are now in place, continued reinforcement is needed to make sure partners are fully confident in the new process. This includes refresher sessions, case reviews and ongoing conversations about system improvements.
