About Lost Hours
Youth violence and anti-social behaviour is sadly on the rise across London. The Lost Hours campaign has been launched by Barking and Dagenham Council to tackle the issue head on with the local community. Central to the campaign is an ask of parents to take more responsibility in knowing where their kids are and what they are up to.
In Barking and Dagenham, we have seen a rise in youth violence and anti-social behaviour between the hours of 3pm and 7pm (a peak at 3pm), when children finish school and their parents get home from work – the Lost Hours. Data shows that in Barking and Dagenham over the last two years, there have been 67 recorded knife attacks where a young person has been injured and 1,794 robberies of personal property by a young person in the borough.
This is happening on your doorstep and we all need to work together to solve the problem. It starts with making sure we all know where our kids are and what they are really up to before it is too late.
Lost Hours is part of a wider initiative called Step Up Stay Safe that works with local partners, such as the police and youth services to tackle this issue through a range of interventions, including outreach work with young people, education through schools and enforcement activity.
Lost Hours was designed with young people and parents to ensure that it captures their feelings about youth violence and anti-social behaviour. Thank you to everyone who helped shape this piece of work.