Not knowing is the new normal.

Every day we wake up with questions. How long will this all last? When will I be back in school? Will my job ever be the same again?

But not everything is unknown. One thing we know is that there were vulnerable children in the UK before this pandemic and there are vulnerable children still.

They haven’t gone away; we just can’t see them any more.  

Out of sight, but not out of mind

Just under 150,000 young people are victims of violence every year. Just under 50,000 suffer from serious violence. The charity I lead - the Youth Endowment Fund - was set up to find the best ways to protect them.

Before the virus hit, I spent a day every week meeting with some of these young people. The most palpable thing I always encountered was fear and bleakness.

A sense that they weren’t safe and nothing could protect them. And right now, with the schools mostly closed and many of our youth services struggling to operate, we know almost nothing about how these children are doing. They have become invisible. 

I commend the government for keeping schools open to serve these vulnerable children. But it’s not solving the problem - less than 10 per cent are attending.

Many of these children rely on teachers, social workers and youth workers to look out for them. They provide support, encouragement and a critical safety net. At the heart of that is the adults looking out for them. And now we can’t see them. 

Our top priority must be getting these young people back in sight. This means we must find the best ways to reach them.  

Funding boost

Last week, the Youth Endowment Fund launched a new round of funding worth £6.5 million to seek to do just that. Schools, multi-academy trusts and local authorities can apply for this funding right now.

We will fund activities designed to reach vulnerable young people. We will fund activities both online and, where possible, face to face. 

We will support the online delivery of one-to-one or group sessions that young people would have received face to face; we will support activities that bring vulnerable children into schools to work with them there; we will support detached youth work where organisations have the permission to deliver it. 

Through all of this, we will together learn what works best and share that knowledge. We urgently need to know the best way to reach and support these young people. 

Covid-19 is frequently described as a crisis. But it’s not one crisis. It’s a bundle of crises all happening at once.

Amid the health crisis and the economic crisis, we mustn’t forget the crisis facing these vulnerable young people. Out of sight often means out of mind.

Our top priority must be to get them back in our sights. 

Jon Yates is executive director of the Youth Endowment Fund