Services for young people

Memorandum submitted by Tim Eyres and Martin Livermore

The relationship between universal and targeted services for young people

(1) If significantly reducing commissioning budgets for youth support activity are to be a reality, the two key elements of delivery that should remain a priority for any future commissioned youth work are targeted youth work support for the most vulnerable young people and youth work supporting local communities to meet the needs of their own young people.

(2) Any commissioned youth work must be able to demonstrate capacity to secure positive outcomes for young people through application of the following principles:

· Targeted support for the most vulnerable with an emphasis on prevention and early intervention;

· Integrated working between local authority staff, partner agencies and the VCS locally to better meet the needs of young people;

· Importance of building social capital and promoting community cohesion;

· Necessity of working alongside and involving young people as co-creators and as future adult citizens;

· Promoting community ownership of issues and solutions through supporting local governance and decision making arrangements;

And critically:

· Young people’s voluntary engagement in youth work provision.

(3) It is important there is national consensus and understanding about what is meant by youth work: informal educational opportunities that enable adolescents to learn new skills, acquire new knowledge, develop attitudes and build resilience that enable them to make a successful transition to adulthood, delivered through building relationships with young people and engaging them in positive activities.

(4) Positive activities should be seen as part of the youth work offer, providing leisure-time opportunities outside of school or college for young people to participate in activities that help them on the ‘pathway to success’ and develop resilience.

(5) The characteristics and nature of how provision is offered are more significant to young people’s engagement than the particular kind of activity itself and positive outcomes are best secured where provision has a purpose and a goal. Delivering through approaches that still engage more ‘difficult to reach’ adolescents resistant to being organised by adults, requires highly skilled youth work. It is not about delivering ‘quick fixes’ but offering an approach that is sustained over time, located in the communities in which young people live and sees individuals ‘in the round’.

How services for young people can meet the government’s priorities for volunteering, including the role of the National Citizen Scheme

(6) Youth work approaches have consistently provided an effective environment for young people to engage in voluntary action as a ‘natural’ extension to their participation in activities and projects; as well as offering a volunteering opportunity for adults to work with young people in a safe and supported fashion. Youth work should benefit from and utilise volunteering, but not depend upon it solely to deliver the support that many young people depend upon.

(7) The opportunity for young people to experience the reward and enjoyment of ‘doing things for others’ provides a significant developmental experience and offers a practical example of how youth work can help to build social capital and promote community cohesion. This can include the National Citizen Scheme. However this must be seen as part of a wider offer to young people and the National Citizen Scheme should not be regarded as a replacement for, or alternative to, existing youth work provision.

Which young people should access services, what they want from those services and their role in shaping provision

(8) In order to protect young people’s access to youth work and positive activities, local authority statutory responsibilities in relation to youth work must be strengthened and less ambiguous, building upon the Statutory Guidance on Section 507B Education Act 1996 published in March 2008, with intervention by the Secretary of State where local authorities fail to meet their statutory duties.

(9) As already set out in Statutory Guidance, young people must continue to be at the centre of decision making and planning in relation to the local ‘offer’ of positive leisure-time activities, alongside the youth work role of supporting young people to engage in their communities as active citizens. Failure to involve young people within their local communities in this way risks creating significant fragmentation within neighbourhoods.

(10) There is evidence that young people’s participation in positive educational leisure-time activities is variable and that there are a number of reasons, such as poor quality provision, lack of choice, lack of relevance to particular needs or limited access due to a lack of transport, why young people, and especially the most disadvantaged, do not engage. It must be recognised that this is especially an issue for young people in rural areas.

(11) It is with the most disadvantaged and vulnerable young people that the local authority contribution to youth work is most critical, either as a commissioner, or as a provider where they have a proven track record of successfully engaging in a targeted way with the most ‘hard to reach’ young people.

(12) Youth work delivery is an essential element of the targeted youth support that makes a difference for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable young people who include: those in public care and at risk of becoming Looked After; young people with learning disabilities and difficulties; young carers; young parents; those at risk of offending; NEET young people; BME young people and young people with mental health issues.

The relative roles of the VCS, statutory and private sectors in providing services for young people

(13) The delivery of a ‘youth work offer’ locally needs to reflect the fact that youth work and positive activities take place in a wide variety of organisations which together can be described as the ‘youth service’. This can legitimately include local authority run youth work projects, voluntary and community sector (VCS) youth clubs and groups, traditional uniformed organisations and specialist projects, for example those with a sports, arts or faith focus.

(14) The local authority role should not be limited to purely that of being a ‘provider’ of youth work services but to identify the most appropriate provider and to build capacity within the voluntary, community and private sectors. This may include through promoting development of social enterprises and is entirely consistent with a growing emphasis on local authorities acting as commissioners and ‘enablers’ of youth work.

(15) Whilst it should be recognised that many VCS youth projects have an established track record of delivering high quality responsive provision for young people, previous Ofsted inspections have highlighted the importance of a leadership and quality assurance role for local authorities to ensure youth work retains a focus on education, enjoyment and informality.

(16) Investing a relatively small amount of resource in building the capacity of the VCS through commissioning activity such as a collaborative training programme, or offering small grants to community groups and supporting an umbrella organisation to provide a VCS support infrastructure is a highly cost effective way for local authorities to fulfil their strategic leadership role.

The training and workforce development needs of the sector

(17) Working with young people, and particularly with those young people who are most disadvantaged or excluded, can be a challenging and demanding task. Effective youth work that successfully engages young people in positive activities, including those young people most resistant to organised provision, requires a complex set of skills and thorough understanding about the nature of adolescent development. This requirement is not dependent upon whether provision is provided by the VCS or local authorities.

(18) A collaborative approach between the local authority and the VCS to offering training opportunities to adults working with young people offers an effective way to develop the skills-based across all sectors and ensure that training is offered on issues and at a level that is appropriate to each individual, whilst at the same time offer progression routes for those adults wanting to develop their professional understanding about youth work and young people.

(19) With the emphasis upon integrated working and support to young people it is important that nationally recognised routes to professional youth work qualification status (currently degree level) remain and continue to offer a youth work specialism as an opportunity to build on a core set of young people’s workforce skills.

The impact of public sector spending cuts on funding and commissioning of services, including how available resources can be best maximised, and whether payment by results is desirable and achievable

(20) Local authorities, in relation to their commissioning of services to young people, are having to balance growing demand and costs against a significantly reducing public sector purse. Requirement to meet statutory duty alongside the continuing need to safeguard the most vulnerable sections of the community risks causing a damaging retreat from investment in early intervention and prevention. Short term financial necessity is storing up a potential for significantly higher costs to society in the medium to long term.

(21) There is a clear risk that the failure to commission sufficient positive activities and targeted youth work, especially with the most disadvantaged and vulnerable young people will result in:

· An increase in anti social and offending behaviour;

· Increased rates of teenage pregnancy and poor sexual health;

· Increased high risk behaviours including drug and alcohol use;

· Low resilience leading to poor emotional and mental health;

· Increased numbers of NEET young people;

· Lack of community cohesion including inter generational relationships;

· Reduced capacity to safeguard young people and prevent family break down.

(22) With reducing public sector budgets, local authority commissioning must secure ‘value for money’ in relation to service delivery, including youth work provision. There is an opportunity to explore far greater use of the VCS alongside establishing social enterprises or mutuals. However, whilst these delivery models might, in some cases, be more cost effective than in-house delivery, they will still require local authorities to hold sufficient commissioning budgets for youth work provision.

(23) A shift to a stronger, more explicit, commissioning approach towards securing youth work delivery provides an opportunity to ensure delivery is based upon clear expectation based on identified needs. This might allow for ‘payment by results’ as part of any specification setting and contract management function, regardless of whether delivery is in-house or out-sourced.

(24) However in considering ‘payment by results’, caution is needed to avoid seeing youth work simply as a ‘quick fix’ activity to sort out issues, too often with young people who are regarded purely as a problem. Youth work must retain its educational and developmental emphasis, offering significant and sometimes life changing experiences that have long term impact for individuals.

How local government structures and statutory frameworks impact on service provision

(25) Youth work makes a significant cross cutting contribution to, and is influenced by, a range of Children’s Trust and partner agency statutory duties, activities and priorities that include:

· diverting young people from anti social or criminal behaviour (YOT Action Plans & Police Youth Strategies);

· promoting healthy lifestyles (Sexual Health & Reducing Teenage Pregnancy Strategies, Tackling Obesity, Drug and Alcohol Plans);

· improving emotional health and well-being (CAMHS Action Plans);

· promoting strong and resilient communities (Community Cohesion Strategies);

· raising aspiration (14-19 Strategies, NEET);

· supporting parenting and safeguarding young people (LSCB Action Plans, Parenting Strategies);

· ‘narrowing the gap’ for the most vulnerable (LDD Strategies, PAYP, Behaviour & Attendance Strategies, BME);

· engaging young people as active citizens (Consultation and Engagement Strategies, UN Charter of Rights).

(26) The youth work relationship is complementary to, but distinct from the wider range of professional and statutory interventions with young people in that it is based upon voluntary engagement, young people’s active involvement and a high level of flexibility and responsiveness. It is also distinctive in that it is often an opportunity for a young person to develop a new type of relationship, based upon mutual respect and with an adult who does not have a statutory position of authority over them, such as a parent, social worker or teacher.

How the value and effectiveness of services should be assessed

(27) Provision should be assessed in relation to the impact that comes from young people’s involvement in youth work in terms of their knowledge, skills and attitudes, e.g. growth in self confidence and self esteem, new skills learnt, stronger relationships, moral and spiritual development, and their participation in opportunities to influence their communities.

(28) Effective youth work should be able to demonstrate how it is contributing to young people’s development in practical ways, supporting them towards independence and building their capacity to assess and take risks safely. This is especially important for the most vulnerable young people, such as those at risk of being accommodated or already in care, where opportunities to participate in positive activities and youth work programmes offer opportunities to meet and interact with others, build friendships and have contact with a trusting adult outside of the statutory relationships associated with being ‘in care’.

(29) An emphasis on how youth work is contributing to the building of social capital within communities should include not only consideration of young people’s skills to forge constructive peer and inter-generational relationships but also consider how their positive contributions to their community are being recognised by adults and others.

December 2010