Building Trust: An evaluation of how Safer London cultivates trusted relationships
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Safer London and The Centre for Education and Youth present Building Trust, an evaluation of how Safer London cultivates trusted relationships, and the impact that this has on the young Londoners who access their services and support.
Building trusting relationships with young Londoners is central to what Safer London do. Many young Londoners affected by violence and exploitation feel let down by the services meant to help them. Safer London’s mission is to change this by creating spaces where they feel safe, respected, and genuinely supported.
CfEY were commissioned to conduct an evaluation to better understand how to build trust effectively. Trust goes beyond rapport – it requires consistency, honesty and mutual respect. The evaluation aimed to uncover practical insights to enhance our engagement and foster meaningful, lasting relationships with the young Londoners Safer London work alongside.
The findings from this evaluation will help shape Safer London’s future strategies and improve their model of working with young Londoners. By sharing these insights, we also hope to contribute to the broader youth and safeguarding sectors, ensuring no young person feels let down by the systems meant to protect them.
Based on the findings, we put forward recommendations that could help Safer London increase the impact of their work.
- Relatability, genuineness and congruence – While not all young Londoners believed relatability was essential for trust, most found it beneficial for building trust with workers. Some Safer London caseworkers struggled with being relatable without compromising professional boundaries, and a lack of genuineness was identified as a barrier to trust. Workers valued being genuine but were unsure how open they should be. There is a need for more support or training to help workers determine what is relevant to share, fostering professional and genuine interactions.
- Training – Further training is needed to enhance trust-building skills. Key areas to explore include how additional training can support trust-building, who has access to this training, and which styles or themes of training are most beneficial. Trauma-responsive practice training was seen as helpful and should be regularly provided to maintain and improve skills.
- Time – Both caseworkers and young Londoners valued the time spent together, but lack of time often hindered progress and relationships. It is recommended to extend the time available to support young Londoners, allowing flexibility beyond the standard 9-5 schedule to continue support when appropriate.
- Reliability – A lack of time also affected workers’ reliability. Caseworkers were frustrated by covering large geographic areas, leading to shorter sessions. To address this, caseloads should be assigned within smaller geographic areas to reduce travel time and improve reliability.
- Data about young Londoners – Caseworkers had differing views on the amount of data available about young Londoners. While some felt too much information could hinder relationship-building, others wanted more data on preferences. It is recommended to include sections in young Londoners’ files with their likes and dislikes to support initial meetings.
Safer London is focused on strengthening trusted relationships with young Londoners, recognising trust as key to effective support.
They’ve made progress by capping caseloads and grouping caseworkers geographically to reduce travel time. However, challenges like limited choice in trusted adults and reduced face-to-face time persist. To address this, they’re exploring extended working hours and refining case allocation, while giving young people more control over their support.
They remain committed to continuously improving their services and look forward to developing their practices and approaches using the insights from this evaluation as a guide.
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