Services for young people

Memorandum submitted by Unite, CYWU, Hampshire Branch

ACHIEVEMENTS AT RISK

A briefing paper on the impact of youth work and cuts in public expenditure

1 Introduction

1.1 The Hampshire Branch of the Community and Youth Workers in Unite welcomes the decision of the Education Select Committee to conduct an inquiry into services for young people. There is great concern about the reductions in public expenditure and the lack of policy commitment to services for young people. The cuts are having a detrimental impact on services for young people. We are keen to provide the best possible services for young people and we need reliable funding to do that job.

1.2 We know from extensive experience the impact of effective youth work and we are very concerned that as a result of public expenditure cuts, many thousands of young people will be less well educated and less skilled than they need to be for survival and success in difficult economic and social situations. Young people gain skills, confidence and qualifications from effective youth work. Communities gain active citizens, committed to making a positive contribution alongside adults, through voluntary sector and local authority services. The nation gains enthusiastic young people, able to meet challenges and succeed.

2 The positive impact of youth work

2.1 Based on our experience and the feedback received from young people and their parents or carers, we know that young people and local communities in Hampshire benefit in many ways from effective youth work. Examples of the positive impact of youth work and similar services for young people include:

2.1.1 250 AQA accredited outcomes achieved by young people in just one of the 11 Districts in the past 6 months;

2.1.2 12 ‘high risk' young people (who were referred by police and other agencies) have started the Prince’s Trust XL scheme with youth workers in one district. All these young people are clearly committed to the positive programme which will give them an accredited work skills award. "Without the County’s youth workers, this scheme would not have happened." (One local police officer);

2.1.3 Public funding has enabled partnerships to be created and new youth centres to be built. As a result, facilities are currently available for a wide range of activities for young people. (However, see below to consider the impact of public expenditure cuts);

2.1.4 Youth work projects are helping young people with severe domestic violence difficulties to cope and become more positive about themselves and their prospects in school, training and work. Such projects have led to a well supported art exhibition, and summer holiday activity schemes;

2.1.5 Youth workers engage with young people out of school hours, when young people are relaxed and open to positive influence in their lives. Young people approach youth workers and often say they would never talk to a teacher about sexually transmitted infections, or their sexuality, or a friend who is abusing drugs, or the possibility of pregnancy. Young people value the services that don’t say "It’s 5 o’clock, sorry I can’t help;"

2.1.6 Social care staff in Hampshire have acknowledged that youth workers skills and the work at youth centres is now a strong asset in their determination to give Looked After Children the skills and experience to succeed at school and in their lives. However, rather than identify new funding for this new work, County Council budgets have been re-allocated away from open access, generic youth work, which prevented young people engaging in antisocial behaviour, to meet the new demands in social care;

2.1.7 Youth workers across the County are responsible for supporting and advising young people in their search for work. Young people say to our colleagues ‘if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have got this job’ !

2.1.8 More than 80 young people attend a music project every Wednesday evening at a local youth centre, sharing their interests, showing respect for each other, and learning new skills from youth workers and each other, in a safe and welcoming environment. When the centre is not open (on some other evenings), many of those young people choose to meet in a local skateboard park, which is a concern to the local police. The police have reported 417 incidents of anti-social behaviour in that area between 31 August 2009 and 4 Jan 2010. None of those 417 incidents occurred on a Wednesday evening when the music project was running!

3 The effect of cuts and lack of commitment

3.1 We are aware that there have been reductions in public and charitable expenditure on work with young people in the past year or so.  We are also aware that substantial reductions are planned in the near future.  Many of these cuts are happening as a result of the lack of commitment by central government which is resulting in the removal of projects and programmes which benefit young people. 

3.2 Young people and youth services are experiencing cuts to front line projects and activities. These are some examples of the reductions, and their impact on young people:

3.2.1 Youth work projects in Hampshire have closed as a result of County Council budget reductions and a recruitment freeze in the current 2010-2011 financial year;

3.2.2 As a result of cuts to District Youth Manager posts (20 down to 8 in 2010-2011), a very considerable amount of management work (such as staff management, HR business, planning, partnership work with the voluntary sector, and monitoring) will be delegated to Team Leaders who already have a full set of local leadership responsibilities. Consequently, they will be passing more supervision and monitoring work to their front line youth workers, and the knock-on effect is that they will have to reduce their face to face youth work time: front line cuts!

3.2.3 Grants to voluntary youth organisations have been eroded in recent years in Hampshire, and voluntary youth organisations have been told that there will be a smaller pot next year. Many voluntary organisations are openly saying "why bother applying, with the cuts, there’s no chance of getting enough funding;"

3.2.4 During the 2010-2011 financial year, the Youth Opportunities Fund and Youth Capital Fund have been cut completely. In Hampshire, when combined, these two funds provided approx £1m per annum for young people to allocate to youth activities (YOF) and capital expenditure (YCF). Consequently, about £500,000 of public expenditure (through YOF) on youth activities has been withdrawn, resulting in the loss of more than 90 projects across a full year;

3.2.5 Approx 75% of the YOF funding was allocated to voluntary sector projects, which will mean that the voluntary sector is suffering a massive loss of income, and cannot provide the activities which will enable young people to be engaged in positive activities;

3.2.6 We agree with the assessment made by the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), that 1 in 5 voluntary youth organisations expect to close in the next 12 months, as a direct result of public expenditure cuts. The other 4 in every 5 organisations expect to be delivering much reduced services in the same period;

3.2.7 Cuts to public funding in Hampshire are damaging the partnerships between public and voluntary organisations that have been carefully built over many years. The voluntary sector is dependent upon public funding for core costs, and with that infrastructure it can attract additional funding from elsewhere. Without the core funding, voluntary organisations have said they will cut services or close;

3.2.8 Local youth work projects across the County have had to close because front line posts in many districts have been cut;

3.2.9 One very popular music project was engaging more than 120 young people every week but there were cuts to staffing numbers in that District and a County Council recruitment freeze in 2010-11. The cuts and recruitment freeze meant that when there were urgent demands for targeted work with a few very disadvantaged young people the music project lost its staffing allocation, which meant it was not safe to operate the project with high numbers of young people. Consequently the whole session had to close, putting more than 120 young people on the streets!

3.2.10 Vulnerable young people in some localities have been left unsupported in a crisis because there is now insufficient staff to meet the demand from young people for 1 : 1 support. These young people are experiencing crises at home and at school, and are likely to be absent from school – like some of their peers - as a result;

3.2.11 Preventative work has become a rarity in some Districts, as a result of a recruitment freeze and staff shortages, because targeted work and crisis intervention has become a more urgent priority;

3.2.12 Quote from one District Youth Manager: "As a result of the cuts and recruitment freeze, I’ve lost one of my front line workers and now the most vulnerable young people cannot get the support they need to stay out of trouble." This worker linked with staff from other agencies by giving 1:1 advice on drug use and other crisis issues for young people. "The project is now in danger of closing because of the freeze, and young people will not get free contraception, Chlamydia tests, other sexual health information and advice on bullying and family relationships;

3.2.13 Youth work and Connexions managers in Hampshire are having to make cuts as predicted in the national survey carried out by the National Youth Agency and the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services, in March 2010. The survey reported that 82% of respondents said that their services were expecting cuts which would directly reduce face to face work with young people;

3.2.14 Funding for young leader training in Hampshire has been transferred from young people to the training of adults in the County Council Children’s Services. As a result, young people do not have the previously excellent and invaluable training support which enabled many of them to progress to become volunteers with their local projects or other organisations;

3.2.15 Evening training courses for new youth work volunteers have been discontinued as part of a cost cutting exercise. As a result, potential youth work volunteers (who have daytime jobs and cannot attend daytime training) cannot gain the skills they need to become volunteers with young people’s services in the County. These cuts, and other cuts to training programmes are demoralising to the workforce, they lead to a waste of skills, and are a strong disincentive to volunteer!

3.2.16 As a result of a freeze on recruitment and cuts to the staffing budgets, many youth service districts in Hampshire are well below the recommended staffing levels, which causes projects to close temporarily or permanently. At least one district is operating at 40% below the recommended staffing level, causing problems for most of its projects and one youth work project has had to be closed on 60% of its sessions since September 2010. This, in turn, has caused numbers of young people attending to fall from 28 each session to 10, as young people become dissatisfied with the unreliable programme on offer.

4 Case Studies

4.1 A few case studies illustrate the achievements of youth work projects in Hampshire. As a direct result of the cuts in public expenditure, the achievements of young people and the positive impact of youth work have already been curtailed and current projects are at risk. Examples of the impact of youth work on individuals and groups include:

4.1.1 A young man had been forced to leave home, which was damaging to him and because he had nowhere to live, keep clean and keep his clothes, it put him at risk of permanent exclusion from school. The situation made him extremely angry and that caused his grandmother to become severely depressed and attempt suicide. However, with intensive support from youth workers, the young man stayed in education, moved back home, and repaired relations with his mother, step father and grandmother. He needs the frequent support of youth workers – outside home – and is now maintaining his relationships and his education.

4.1.2 A young woman had been self-harming and had made several suicide attempts before attending a youth service project with a friend. As a result of that attendance she got to know youth workers who respected her and she built a few trusting relationships with workers and young people. She disclosed safeguarding issues to the youth workers and these were referred to social work colleagues. The youth work links continued and grew; the young woman attended nearly every available youth work session. Through these trusting relationships, she increased her understanding of her sexuality and reduced her self-harming, raised her confidence and increased her self esteem. As a result, she became a member of the district and county youth councils and went on young leader training. She now works in a HCC safeguarding team and volunteers regularly in a project for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people;

4.1.3 A 17 year old young man first attended a County Council youth club when he was 12. At that time and since, he experienced difficulties with identity, lack of confidence, and fitting in with his peers. During those five years, with regular support from youth workers, he became a Youth Representative in his local area, then he was appointed to the Community Board and the local Carnival Committee. With continuing support, he has volunteered with the Red Cross, and wants to become a paramedic. Again, with ongoing support from County Council youth workers and the Red Cross, his volunteering has earned him the British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Award, presented recently at a ceremony in London.

4.1.4 Quotes from young people following a series of drugs and alcohol awareness workshops, led by local youth workers: "I didn’t know alcohol could be so dangerous;" I really like someone from a special project coming in to give us information;" "I’m not going on a binge any more;" "I’m going to keep myself a lot safer now I know what drugs can do;" "It’s so cool having a youth worker we can talk to because they’re not part of school."

5 Conclusion

5.1 Youth workers are being as creative as we can in our work with young people, but we cannot mitigate the continued reduction in public resources allocated to work with young people.  We cannot raise the necessary funding from charitable sources or from the commercial sector or from voluntary contributions. We plead with the Education Select Committee to impress on the Government and the public that fewer programmes and opportunities for young people will result in less skilled young people, more antisocial behaviour by some young people, greater disadvantage for many young people, and a negative impact on local communities.

5.2 Youth services should be funded to the nationally agreed levels established by the well-respected Resourcing Excellent Youth Services and regularly inspected, as educational services, by Ofsted. Youth services of many types and size, value the rigour which comes with national expectations and standards. Youth work is a highly skilled profession, requiring degree qualifications, just like teaching, at the professional level. Learning beyond the classroom is not just useful, it is vital for approx 20% of young people who experience particular risks in their adolescent years and will require huge public funding when things go badly wrong in their lives.

5.3 We want to support young people to play a positive role in their local communities. We are the people who will give young people - who often lack confidence - the support and the challenge to volunteer and to play their part in local activities, regional forums, and national programmes, as part of the Big Society. This is what we have been doing very successfully for decades, adapting our work to suit the needs of young people and local communities. Short term national projects (like the National Citizen Service) are no substitute for continued local activities which engage young people, week-in, week-out, in positive activities and prevent them from becoming alienated and disengaged.

5.4 Youth work and similar services for young people are effective educational services which play a very positive, if low-profile role in enabling young people to gain expertise, knowledge and understanding which will give them excellent skills for life. Not only is that good for the economy and good for local communities, it saves public money because it is preventative and educational, and it benefits young voters.

December 2010