County Lines Support and Rescue, London: Annual report 2023-2024

Impact

Overview

London, along with the other regions we deliver in, is a key hot spot and concern for service users that are actively being exploited into county lines and who are potentially at risk of child criminal exploitation.

The London service covers a total of 32 boroughs. The service, therefore, has to accommodate and provide a service to as many service users and families as possible within those boroughs.

As both Catch22 and Rescue and Response continue to deliver a service in alliance, with minimal duplication to all statutory services, our main aim is to ensure that our service users are supported, and that we collaboratively work together to ensure that we communicate, support, and provide an effective service as and when there is a direct need for this support.

From the outset of this contract, the London service has continued to promote and build relationships with our key referrers, such as local authorities, police, prisons, and schools.

As a result, the impact of our work has reached and supported service users that fall into the space of child criminal exploitation and county lines involvement.

We have had the capacity to work with a lot more young people but understand that a minority of young people do not wish for support from our service. We have continued to ensure that, when these service users are ready for our support, we are ready and available as we understand that it can be difficult and too risky for young people to seek help at this stage.

Unfortunately, some of the young people referred may and do not see themselves as victims. This is something that would need to be considered when identifying our service for a “young person being a victim of county lines (maybe impacted).”

Referrals

In 2023-2024, the service received referrals for a total of 128 service users. Of those referred, 66 service users engaged with the service across London.

Of those that we did not work or engage with directly (62), this was due to too many professionals being involved, service users refusing the service, and/or no concern or evidence of county lines/criminal exploitation.

In addition, the rescue element of the service received a total of 17 rescue requests from statutory colleagues, including local and regional police forces.

Of those requests, four rescues where successfully completed throughout the year, and support for these service users continued upon return into the region. One of these was from Brighton (Sussex) to Newham (London), and three were from Folkestone (Kent) to Haringey and Hackney (London).

One rescue was not referred into the service for continued work due to risks on being returned to London. This young person was, accordingly, rehoused outside of the region into Essex 24 hours later.

Although we had a high number of rescue requests, we share some of these with St Giles Trust via Rescue and Response. Work with this organisation has allowed us to liaise to ensure a seamless plan with no duplication of work.

Some of the other reasons surrounding incomplete rescues can be due to delayed interviews, service users being remanded, or there being no suitable address or location for a service user.

We continue to work closely with not only local Metropolitan and British Transport Police but also key coastal police forces such as Sussex, Kent, and Norfolk Police to ensure that our service users are returned safely back to London.

In addition, the service has supported 29 parents and carers this year, which is an important part of our work with service users and their families. One of the ways we do this is by providing support to underprivileged families, through the provision of essential items that service users may otherwise feel obligated to buy, which can push them into potential criminal exploitation situations.

This year, we have provided over £340 in food support, and over £1,000 to these service users and their families to support them with activities, sporting items (such as football boots), Christmas shopping, items to support self-employment, and items to celebrate achievements and birthdays for service users who are living independently.

The referrals into the service indicate that the London team are, and continue to, receive referrals from a variety of key organisations. Most of these referrals have come from social care, children and family services, and our police colleagues. However, there have also been referrals from a combination of other sources, including referrals from the youth justice system and self-referrals from parents.

During this year, a total of 128 referrals were received by our service. Most of our referrals were for combined county lines support, exploitation work, and preventative work across the region.

These figures represent the borough that held statutory responsibility for the referrals at the time. Havering is shown as being the borough with the highest number of referrals (12), followed by Haringey and Newham (9) and Enfield (8).

Demographics

Of the service users that engaged with the service, the most prominent age group is our 16-19 year old cohort (38), followed by our 0-15 year old (25) and 20-24 year old (3) cohorts. This shows that service users of all age ranges are, and continue to be, susceptible to county lines and exploitation involvement.

Although several young people didn’t engage with the service, this age group of service users would remain high given the concern with exploitation overall.

It is also clear that most of these referrals are from males (54). This is a common practice when dealing with males within the youth justice system, which is essentially linked to exploitation.

When working in conjunction with the police and within operations, we continue to ensure we don’t lose sight of the potential females (12) that may also be victims or perpetrators of county lines or child criminal exploitation.

Support for this cohort continues to increase and will be promoted in some of the key spaces and places females may be located within.

The numbers in the graph show that a large proportion of our referrals into the service for this year have been predominately:

• Black British African(18),
• White British(10) and
• Black British Caribbean (9) individuals.

London, as we know, is a very diverse city across all of its boroughs, but it does indicate that the representation of referrals for Asian (2) and other ethnicities is still low in comparison to the number received for Black young people.

Specialist support

Within our service, our specialist workers provide a specific service to under-represented cohorts of service users. They work within the referrals received to provide a direct and holistic level of support to those who may otherwise be overlooked when thinking about county lines and exploitation.

The presence of a Mental Health Worker has allowed the service to ensure that the resources and methods to support the young people and their families to thrive and improve their emotional health and wellbeing, through direct and consultative work.

The service also participates in monthly reflective practice led by our Mental Health Worker, allowing staff to reflect on their work with their young people, and to encourage the need for continuous learning, development, and self-observation within their practice.

Our service has engaged a diverse range of service users based on their emotional or mental health, whether it’s a suspected or diagnosed need. Over this period, we have had several service users with emotional and mental health needs. These have included ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression, PTSD and complex trauma.

Many of the service users we engaged and supported also had multiple risk factors, such as being affected by domestic abuse, knife crime, substance misuse and sexual abuse.

As county lines is a predominately male- dominated area of criminal activity, there is very little information or enforcement on young women and girls who are affected by county lines. As such, we are aware that young women are even more vulnerable as they tend to be overlooked and go unnoticed due to their gender.

Our Women and Girls Worker continues to engage these individuals to support in understanding some of the impact that county lines and exploitation can have on females, their roles, and how they are treated within such a common male arena.

Our Women and Girls Worker provides interventions on healthy relationships, exploitation, consent, safety planning, serious violence and weapons. Most of their engagement focuses on emotional health and wellbeing. This is supported by the provision of correct sexual health advice and guidance to both the males and females we support.

Parents, carers and professionals

Another major area in which we have seen impact throughout the year is through our provision of webinars for parents, carers and professionals on what county lines means.

As a region, we have facilitated over 15 different sessions to groups including parents, grandparents, foster carers, teachers, and community organisations.

The webinar covers a general overview of county lines and exploitation, the stages of recruitment, the signs to look out for, targeting and disrupting county lines, the impact of debt bondage, and the support offered in tackling county lines and criminal exploitation more widely.

The feedback received from attendees show the importance of webinar sessions for those that have limited knowledge, and the impact these types of criminal activities have on service users and their families:

“I didn’t even know a “county line” referred to a phone line. Very useful session. Very informative presenter. Great signposting to further information. 10/10!”

“I found the terminology useful. It changes so quickly and I had not heard of these terms before. I feel if I hear them in the classroom now, I will be able to let someone know.”

As the service works across the boroughs, staff work alongside many professionals, attending and contributing to discussions about the service user and the support that they have offered.

Over the year, staff have contributed to a number of statutory meetings including strategy meetings (42), core groups (32), child in need and court, prison and custody visits (25):

For context, these meetings consist of:

• strategy meetings – the purpose of a strategy discussion is to decide whether the threshold has been met for a single or joint agency (health and social care and police) child protection investigation, and to subsequently plan that investigation. They happen when it is believed a child has suffered, or is likely to suffer, serious harm.
• core group meetings – a core group is a group of relevant practitioners and family members, who work together to create, implement, and review a care and support protection plan. Each member of the core group has a responsibility for monitoring the plan to make sure it meets the needs of the child.
• child protection reviews – this is a discussion about a child’s future safety, health, and development with family members, the child (if appropriate), and professionals involved with the family.

Not many of the young people that we support are looked after children. This indicates that the families and service users that are supported are the families that are in need and who require the support from the service.

Modern day slavery

Some of the service users we work with also do not see themselves as victims due to several possible vulnerabilities attached to them. It is also clear within the work and engagement we have with our service users that some do not identify as being exploited and become accustomed to actively wanting to engage in this type of activity. We know that, over time, coercion, control, and manipulation play a major part in the service user’s understanding, leading to an authority such as the Home Office considering their case as possibly being a victim of human trafficking, slavery and forced labour (namely transporting illegal drugs across the regions).

As shown in the demographics on the previous pages, many of our service users are under-18 and would be deemed as potential victims of modern day slavery. If a child is under 18, a National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referral must be completed online, where a case will be opened, giving an insight to the information gathered about the service user in question.

The total number of service users referred into our service who had a National Referral Mechanism over the last year was 31. Of these, a total of 24 service users who engaged with the service had a National Referral Mechanism submission. 21 of these service users were aged under 18 at the time of the service receiving the referral, and three were aged over 18.

Milestones

Soft milestones is a specific route designed to help our young people engage with the service and to assist the service user to use a range of methods and resources to understand exploitation and county lines, and understand the risks and dangers that this kind of activity can present.

Before support comes to an end, we work to ensure that all service users feel more safe, capable, and resilient enough to lead a more positive lifestyle without any fear or potential retribution.

These milestones are labelled as “soft” as we know that service users have chaotic, complex, and colourful lives, and we try to ensure that the areas that need to be covered during the support are completed over a period where the service user is able, willing and engaging with the service.

The chart above depicts the number of service users who have completed the different milestones over the last year, during their journey with the County Lines Support and Rescue service.

Distance travelled

This year, our Outcome Star data shows that 88% of service users have made progress in at least one outcome area, 64% in at least two, and 52% in at least three. On average, service users are making progress in 3.3 areas at a time.

Of the service users referred this year, 25 have shared that they have made progress in the Top 3 outcome areas: being safe (56%), friends (52%), and where they live and relationships (40%). Some of these service users have, however, also dropped back in the Top 3 outcome areas: education and learning (28%), physical health (28%), and confidence and self-esteem (24%).

Summary

County Limes Support and Rescue has given its service users a space to be young during some of the challenges and difficulties within their lives.

The service tries to provide a place where they feel they can engage in some form of positive activity, within their local area or across other boroughs. This can lead to having to persuade our young people but also put in place risk measures to ensure that these young people are not crippled by concerns surrounding postcode / borough issues.

Accordingly, we have supported young people to attend music studios sessions, gym sessions, and provided a place to work on their emotional health and wellbeing. We have encouraged them users to attend cinemas and community-based football sessions. We hope to continue this level of support and are very fortunate to support the young people and families who value our time and efforts.

Voice of the young person

Service user feedback

We complete an exit survey with our service users at the end of support. Based on the feedback received this year, young people responded that:

• What was one thing that really helped you to engage with the support?
  • “Consistency, having someone to talk to, and the relaxed environment.”
• If you could change one thing about your support, what would it be?
  • “That it went on for longer, but that it was not every week.”
• Based on the experience you have had with Catch22, would you recommend the service to others?
  • “Overall, yes! They took me home when I was arrested. They know what they are talking about, and are good people. I think they help a lot of people make good choices.”
• Do you feel that the Catch22 staff that you worked with cared about you and your wellbeing?
  • “Overall, yes! They bought me food and made sure that I was okay. They listened to my issues. They also kept calling me and checking up on me.

Case study

Case study

Jason is a 15-year-old male who was referred to the service by their social worker, following a 24-hour missing episode.

Jason and his 13-year-old younger sibling were later located at a “trap house”, in which Jason was made to smoke cannabis. Jason reported this caused feelings of anxiety, panic, and confusion. Jason was also made to painfully hide drugs in his body.

Upon his return from his missing episode and returning back to school Jason felt unwell and was admitted into hospital. He disclosed to hospital staff that he was being used by gang members to deal drugs. Jason was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and transferred to a children’s psychiatric hospital in Manchester due to drug-induced psychosis. Jason had no physical symptoms however he could not recognise familiar faces or speak coherently.

After a few weeks in hospital Jason had returned home back to London following his treatment.

Jason first engaged with a County Lines Caseworker at school, in which the caseworker introduced themselves and the service. The caseworker shared their concerns around exploitation to Jason however, his understanding of these concerns was limited. Jason was very quiet and reserved in this session, giggled when the recent incidents were mentioned, and casually dismissed everything that happened. Nevertheless, Jason consented to the service and next sessions were planned.

During support, Jason and his sibling went missing again, before being arrested outside of their home borough in a “trap house” known to the police. Jason was arrested for possession with the intent to supply (PWITS) Class A drugs. As was the younger sibling, who was additionally charged with possession of an offensive weapon, as two machetes were found at the address.

Jason and his younger sibling dealt drugs for a 21-year-old male, who was arrested alongside them and who remained in custody at the time.

Jason outlined the exploitation strategies used by this male, compared to those used by previous individuals they used to deal for. In the past, Jason and his younger sibling would deal drugs for fear-mongering individuals that would stab or beat “youngers” if they lost their drugs. When these individuals were arrested, Jason and his sibling began to deal for the 21-year-old male who Jason shared was kind to them, and would let them play PlayStation, and would only shout at “youngers” if they lost their drugs.

As Jason engagement with the service increased, the true extent of his vulnerability became apparent. Jason initially believed that the male they used to deal drugs for was caring and loyal. However, it was explained to Jason that, by selling drugs for this male, they were taking on all of risks, while keeping very little of the money. Jason is beginning to accept that this is not fair, caring treatment and that they might have been groomed.

Jason has been engaging in positive extra-curricular activities which help distract him from his anxious thoughts and fears around being attacked. Jason has been attending a gym once a week and completing a home workout plan in the hopes of returning to fitness and playing football competitively again.

Work and engagement continues with his sibling, the network, and his family to safeguard, protect and provide a supporting relationship towards Jason and his emotional health and wellbeing.

Themes

Across the year, staff have engaged with service users through various interventions and discussions to establish some of the key patterns and trends that are emerging for service users involved in county lines and exploitation.

Many of the service users we work with will encounter and be more aware of the societal issues across their boroughs that many professionals may not be aware of or even observe.

The service meets monthly during case supervision to look at these concerns, and also holds monthly discussions with other Catch22 services to share these themes.

Some of the themes that have been raised this year include:

• an increase in exploitation through street robberies, with young people stealing items such as clothing, bags, phones and designer goods – either stolen to order, or stolen to fund their substance misuse or repay their drug debt,
• an increase in the carrying of weapons, especially more extreme weapons,
• an increase in conflict within the family home, with parents not cooperating in the minimisation of risks for service users involved in county lines and sharing key information with the network,
• an increase in the number of service users and families on child protection or child in need plans,
• an increase in exploitation and arrest,
• an increase in service users being arrested for possession with intention to sell (PWITS) Class A drugs or being in a concerned place,
• an increase in school exclusions or children not in education, which makes them more available and more vulnerable to exploitation due to lack of adult supervision,
• an increase in service users that are unable to regulate their emotions, which can be related to mental health and/or neurodiversity needs,
• an increase in females engaging with other, older service users and their friends, mainly outside of their home borough,
• an increase in friends and associates introducing service users to exploitation and local people in the area who are either drug users or known friends of drug users, and
• an increase in the number of service users who are increasingly encouraged to ‘check in’ while missing, as they know this will then delay the police response for a few hours.

External engagement

The service has completed and attended a wide range of presentations and events across London this year with local authorities, organisations, communities, schools and key stakeholders.

The service has also attended several external team meetings, promoting the service to local authorities, probation services, schools, colleges, voluntary and statutory sectors, to share our experiences, work, and knowledge with the intention of creating and maintaining collaborative working relationships.

At the beginning of June last year, we had been contacted by Professor Kerry Edwards from Pennsylvania University, who visited London with 16 students. The aim was to compare the criminal justice abroad, and they were keen to meet several professionals from Catch22 to establish the wide range of services that we offer our service users.

“You all provided an incredible experience! The students appreciated it, learned a lot of information, and gained new perspective. I did too! I will include information about your programme in my discussions in my Juvenile Delinquency course this fall. I am so glad the students got exposed to such a dedicated team! That is a great model for them.”

– Professor Kerry Edwards

The service was also invited to the pre-screening and discussions for a moving called “Trapping”, by the founder of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Race Equality in Education.

Produced by filmmaker Femi Oyeniran, the event aimed to highlight the need for Government to respond to victims of county lines, through a film that addressed many of the real associated issues and risks, including mental health. There were several high-profile guests in attendance, including rap artist Abracadabra, and Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP.

As part of the question-and-answer discussion that followed, Catch22 attendees asked the panel: “Do you feel that the movie had covered the area of mental health and the trauma that occurs within county lines?”

Staff were also involved in an event within HMP Highdown, focused on prison care experience. They provided potential service users, who are currently in custody having been remanded or sentenced for county lines, with the offer of support in the community upon release.

We will continue to be part of similar events in the future to continue spreading the service across other prison establishments like HMP Feltham, HMP Isis, and HMP Wandsworth, in order to reach this wide cohort of service users within London not just in the who are not just in the community.

In addition to these specific activities, we have supported in local college fairs and open days and attended Metropolitan Police events on social media and online harms (including events about violence against women and girls).

We regularly work alongside our police colleagues, namely the British Transport Police, to support with key proactive operations across London mainline train stations. Of note, we have been present at operations at Ipswich, London Bridge, and Clapham Junction stations. Our involvement is to provide safeguarding support for any potential service users who may be stopped and searched during these operations, which can identify potential service users who are subject to county lines transportation.

We have achieved several successful referrals into the service from these operations. However, it also allows us to communicate with service users, and to provide engagement and reassurance with other professionals from local authorities, such as social care, to prevent further vulnerabilities and ensure that the correct support is obtained if it is required at the time.

Challenges

Over the last year, some of the challenges that the London County Lines Support and Rescue service has faced, and anticipates over the coming year, include:

• Identifying new ways of working with alternative providers
  The new MOPAC alliance brings several obstacles to potentially overcome as the service mobilises, but also opportunity to influence service delivery in London.
• Complexity of young people
  This continues to be significant, and we will face constant challenges in dealing with the risks they are facing.
• Stakeholder evaluation interviews
  Participation have been a challenge and will likely continue to be a concern due to service users not wishing to share their experiences.
• Limited referrals on young women and girls
  This is especially difficult from organisations surrounding concerns around exploitation in county lines.
• Service competition
  The service competes with several exploitation (contextual/extra familial) services already within the local authorities within London. This limits referrals into the service.

Caseworker feedback

Reflecting on the year that has passed, we asked our Caseworker team to provide some feedback on the achievements and challenges that they have felt throughout the year.

Achievements

• We have seen a reduction in exploitation and grooming for our service users, which has been positive.
• We have seen positive relationships build with parents and carers.
• We have developed good working relationships with children’s services, the youth justice system, and education providers.
• Collaboration with non-statutory services, including gyms and music studios, have supported our service users to engage in more positive activities.

Challenges

• Service users have sometimes not consented to support and/or have not been willing to engage.
• Sometimes the referrals that we have received do not meet our criteria meaning we cannot provide support.
• The service is reaching as many service users as possible; we are consistently receiving support referrals but our caseloads are often full.
• There have been some challenges in implementing the rescue service. However, this has improved recently, with rescues being carried out more frequently.

Additional thoughts

• Frontline casework is very fulfilling and important for the service users we are supporting.
• Our service users need consistent support, from workers who have a specialist understanding of county lines and child criminal exploitation, as they often feel trapped, stigmatised, and ignored by both professional and personal networks.
• Advocacy work is an understated part of the work that we do.
• Demand for our service in London appears to be very high – an increase of case workers within the team would help.

Working in partnership

County Lines Support and Rescue continues to work in partnership with its  key stakeholders:

• Home Office,
• Crest,
• Reign Collective,
• Abianda, and
• SafeCall.

The team have conducted several updates with our Home Office colleagues and obtain regular updates on how the service is progressing and any common themes we are witnessing. We continue to feed into the evaluation reports with Crest and attend where required with key webinar session delivered by Abianda and Safecall.

The service continues to also work closely with our national and local colleagues from the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC), with frequent attendance at the Metropolitan Police’s County Lines Strategic Board meetings, where we participate and contribute to the social media and partnership board.

We continue to support British Transport Police at national operations across London, where required, to tackle concerns around transportation of county lines at the mainline stations.

We also continue to liaise with the St Giles Trust’s Rescue and Response team, to work collaboratively within the region of London and share ideas and concerns that minimise duplication of work.

As the new phase of MOPAC alliance gets under way in June 2024, we will ensure that partnership working with key organisations such as Safer London, New Horizons, Anna Freud and St Giles Trust continues, and that clear and transparent plans across both services are managed accordingly.

We hope to continue working with other partnerships including The Children Society, to strengthen our offer around financial exploitation and feed into national policies that are likely to be a growing concern for the wider community when dealing with children and young people.

Finally, we will continue to collaborate with other key partners that are willing to support in tackling county lines, ensuring that the service users are supported and safeguarded to the highest standard.

Future plans

Over the coming twelve months, the London County Lines Support and Rescue service aims to:

• be embedded more into the local prisons; we have a footprint in Wandsworth Prison and ongoing discussions with HMP Feltham, ISIS, and Thameside
• target colleges, sixth forms, and universities to raise awareness with teachers and staff on county lines and what to look out for; this is in process, and we have so far engaged Newham College, the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL), Capital College, South Bank College, Southwark College and more,
• continue to provide and support males and females with advice and guidance on safe sex and consent, and offer a drop-in service within Newham targeting the local community,
• continue to develop and provide awareness sessions to parents and carers in the community, and to hold national sessions across all regions for families,
• work alongside new partners on tackling county lines and exploitation, and ensure our specialist work in this area is undertaken by key professionals,
• work directly with cuckooed victims to combat this cohort where drug dealing impacts those tenants the most,
• continue to work in collaboration with the new MOPAC Pan-London Alliance’s Children and Young People’s Violence and Exploitation Support Service (CYP-V&ESS),
• continue service user engagement in a positive and safe way for our London clients,
• have a Youth-Led Participation Worker to inform on concerns surrounding exploitation,
• continue to work directly with other directorates within social media and the digital world, and adopt the new awareness of exploitation, and
• continue to increase our knowledge on county lines and support service users impacted by this.