HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds are to be poured into schemes to tackle youth crime in Liverpool.

Over the next two years, the Government will hand over £700,000, which will be split between programmes aimed at taking youngsters off the streets and keeping them from a life of crime.

The Youth Crime Action Plan (YCAP) will see money put into after-school patrols, street-based teams to talk to groups just hanging around and Operation Staysafe, which rounds up “at- risk” youngsters out at night and takes them home or to a safe place.

For those children already involved in crime, extra funds will be made available to put more youth workers into police custody suites and widen projects which get the offender and their family together with social workers and other professionals.

There are also plans to build on the success of the Community Payback scheme, which sees offenders carrying out work to benefit their neighbourhood – such as removing graffiti or cleaning up fly-tipping areas – as punishment for their crime.

The YCAP money will add to the Tackling Guns Action Plan (TGAP) and Tackling Knives Action Plan (TKAP), which are also being tested in Liverpool.

When combined, they will target some of the hardcore areas for youth crime, such as the streets of L11, where teenage gangs with access to firearms are still prevalent.