“Different services are working hard but not always working together.” That was the blunt assessment from Youth Justice Minister Jake Richards as ministers and local leaders met in Manchester on Thursday 17 September 2026 to talk about stopping more children being pulled into crime before it starts. According to the Ministry of Justice announcement, the meeting brought together voices from youth justice, policing, children’s services and education, with Manchester used as the setting for a wider argument inside government: that crime prevention works better when decisions are made closer to the communities living with the consequences.

Richards chaired the roundtable alongside Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister and Policing and Crime Minister Sarah Jones. The discussion was not pitched as a crackdown. It was about spotting risk earlier, joining services up properly and asking whether local and regional leaders need more freedom to act before a child reaches the point of arrest, exclusion or custody. That question lands sharply in places like Greater Manchester, where councils, schools, youth workers and police are often expected to piece together support across stretched systems. In Manchester, ministers were effectively testing what youth justice devolution might look like in practice rather than leaving it as another Whitehall slogan.

Earlier in the day, ministers visited SHiFT Manchester, a partnership between the national charity SHiFT, Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit. The programme works intensively with children and young people judged to be at the highest risk of entering custody or becoming deeply involved in crime. The visit gave ministers a close look at how multi-agency support can work on the ground. SHiFT’s model is built around sustained relationships and joined-up help, with practitioners working across the pressures that can push a young person towards offending. For a government talking about prevention, Manchester offered a live example rather than a briefing note.

MacAlister said every young person should be backed by adults around them, from teachers to social workers, and argued that vulnerable children need help long before the justice system becomes the main point of contact. His message was that earlier intervention across children’s social care and youth justice has to be stronger if more lives are to stay on a safer track. Jones made the case from the policing side, saying youth services can still open doors when other routes have already started to close. That will sound familiar to many local practitioners, who have long argued that crime prevention depends as much on trusted relationships and practical support as it does on enforcement after the fact.

The other significant move was the appointment of Kate Green as Expert Adviser on Youth Justice Devolution in England. The Government says the post will run for an initial 18 months and is unremunerated, with Green asked to provide independent advice on how strategic authorities could play a bigger part in youth justice and crime prevention. Her brief will cut across the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Department for Education, looking at how services can be joined up better, where resources can be pooled, where duplication can be cut and how accountability can sit closer to local communities. Green said young people need earlier action, stronger coordination around their needs and practical reforms shaped by evidence and experience.

The Manchester meeting also sits inside a wider package. This week saw the announcement of 42 more Young Futures Hubs, intended to provide mentoring, wellbeing support, trusted adults and positive opportunities in communities affected by violence. Ministers say the Serious Violence Reduction Programme and the Serious Violence Duty are backed by more than £66 million this financial year. Government figures also state that 53 multi-agency Young Futures Panels were operating across England and Wales by the end of October 2025, with a further 12 panels now running in 2026/27. Those panels are designed to identify children at risk earlier and connect them with support before offending becomes more likely.

For Manchester and other northern places, the next question is whether the talk of devolution is followed by practical freedom, stable funding and clearer lines of responsibility. Local services can only work together consistently if the structures above them allow it. That is why this roundtable mattered beyond a single ministerial visit. It placed Manchester at the centre of a national youth justice conversation and showed a government openly looking beyond Westminster for answers. If these reforms move forward, places like Greater Manchester will expect to help shape them from the start.