Efforts to stop children joining gangs and getting involved in violent crime will be undermined if the Government makes further cuts to the money councils receive to tackle youth offending, town halls warn today.

This comes as figures show that youth justice grants, which fund the vital work of youth offending teams (YOTs) within councils, have been halved from £145 million in 2010/11 to £71.5 million in 2018/19.

The Local Government Association, which represents 370 councils in England and Wales, says further funding cuts would seriously hamper efforts to provide vital support to young people and protect them from criminal activity, such as becoming involved in knife violence or “county line” gangs.

Councils are currently waiting to find out their youth justice grant allocations for 2019/20, despite already having had to set their overall annual budgets.