Croydon has become the first London borough to join a renowned scheme that helps young offenders find paid work and "break the cycle" of re-offending.

The borough council announced on Friday (August 21) it had join forces with The Skill Mill programme and the pair are now set to work together for the next four years helping young offenders develop their skillset.

A spokesperson for the council gave details of the scheme in a statement on the borough authority's involvement:

"In groups of four at a time the youngsters will take part in an intensive six-month work programme of paid work that will result in a nationally-recognised qualification and the opportunity to progress into further employment or training.

"Employers include Balfour Beatty, Kier Construction, Thames Water and the council’s own jobs brokerage service Croydon Works and the young people – aged between 16 and 18 – will be involved in environmental and site maintenance jobs including park and garden preservation."

The Skill Mill won plaudits in recent years including a gong at the UK Social Enterprise Awards and a number of other accolades and recognitions according to their website.

David Parks, the project's managing director, started The Skill Mill in Newcastle and 2013 and said he welcomed the chance to bring it to the South:

"We mostly work in the north and so it’s fantastic this partnership with Croydon has come about," he said.

"The Skill Mill focuses on some of the most challenging young people who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to be taken out of that cycle of violence.

"Just 12 per cent of the kids who come through the programme re-offend compared with the national average of 43 per cent.

"We are trailblazers and no-one else is exclusively employing young people who are ex-offenders," Parks added.

All of the young people involved in the programme live in the borough and this week the first cohort began their six months of work, starting with garden maintenance.

One of them, Nathan aged 17, said: “It’s a great opportunity for me as someone who’s had a bit of a bad past.”

The Skill Mill programme is jointly commissioned by seven local authorities, and supported by the Life Chances Fund awarded by The National Lottery Community Fund.

The number of children who received a caution or sentence has fallen by 83 per cent over the last ten years (2008/09-2018/19), with a 19 per cent fall in the last year accoridng to government data.