Charities are to be invited to apply for up to £20m in funding for projects that divert young people away from crime.

The funding is being made available by the Youth Endowment Fund which is looking to fund programmes that can keep children out of the criminal justice system.

Mental health support, family support and mentoring are among the programmes the Fund is looking to back.

The funding aims to find the best approaches that aim to divert young people aged 10 to 17 away from crime. It aims to identify 10 to 20 programmes that can be evaluated and supported within two years. The Fund aims to spend between £10m and £20m “depending on the quality of the applications”.

Online grant workshops will take place from this month ahead of applications opening on 19 April until 14 May. Shortlisted applicants will be informed by the end of June with grants awarded in November.

The funding follows a four-month consultation with young people with experience of violence.

This also highlighted a need to invest in support for families and a further round of grant funding, also worth up to £20m, focusing on this area will be released later this year.

“We would like to thank every single person – the young people, the community and youth workers, the teachers, the social workers and the police officers – who took the time to help shape our direction,” said Youth Endowment Fund executive director Jon Yates.

“Thanks to your knowledge and insight, our grant round on diversion will help us to build the knowledge we need to keep children and young people safe from violence.

He added: “We’ll share everything we learn, because we know that evidence is no use if it just stays on the shelf. Together, we can use it to make change happen and keep our children safe.”

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