Written evidence submitted by Youth Workers
in Croydon
THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN UNIVERSAL
AND TARGETED
SERVICES FOR
YOUNG PEOPLE
1. Universal services reach most young people
placing it in a better position to direct young people towards
targeted provision. Universal services are therefore the front
door to targeted work—both playing a part in a young persons
life journey.
2. We need a universal service for young people
to return to once the targeted work ends—good consistent
integrated universal provision clearly decreases the need for
targeted work.
3. Within Croydon IYSS it can be argued that
all youth provision is universal with targeted intervention work
supporting strands of our provision.
4. Targeted strands of youth work run complimentary
to universal services, for example, work with young people with
disabilities whilst targeted for different young peoples needs
contains strong elements of integrated universal work.
5. Most young people access universal provision
without needing to ever access targeted or crisis intervention
work—specialist strands of targeted work exist to compliment
universal youth work for those in need.
6. Targeted work is therefore a part not apart
from universal services.
HOW SERVICES
FOR YOUNG
PEOPLE CAN
MEET THE
GOVERNMENT'S
PRIORITIES FOR
VOLUNTEERING, INCLUDING
THE ROLE
OF NATIONAL
CITIZEN SERVICE
7. IYSS—Many young people volunteer within
existing provision: DofE, Young peoples forums, Youth councils,
Princes Trust. Within centres we have youth leaders in training
as well as many young people volunteering to gain experience in
the many aspects of youth work.
8. Volunteers within services are not limited
to a short six week programme—continuity and long term personal
development are important aspects of voluntary youth work.
9. Increased government investment in volunteering
programmes that are sustainable—long term and credible offering
employment instead of short term six week programmes.
10. Develop programmes within the youth service/IYSS
sector aimed at increasing community based volunteering by young
people.
11. Youth services have plenty of experience
and evidence of helping many young people volunteer within its
own services—many use this experience to gain employment
within the service or in wider employment.
WHICH YOUNG
PEOPLE ACCESS
SERVICES, WHAT
THEY WANT
FROM THOSE
SERVICES AND
THEIR ROLE
IN SHAPING
PROVISION
12. Clearly young people from all different social
backgrounds and contexts access IYSS and youth service provision.
13. Young people have diverse needs and wants
and as such cannot be pigeonholed.
14. Many young people who attend clubs or projects
go through periods of disaffection—these services help young
people through some of the difficult times they face in the journey
through from adolescence to adulthood.
15. Many young people attend services for adult
support and guidance—for social interaction and informal
education with peers—to have fun—to learn new skills
and participate in activities.
16. Young people play a key role in determining
provision within Croydon IYSS both at a local level and at a wider
level via youth centre/project forums and the wider youth council.
Young people have a real say in both programmes and budget.
17. Good consistent consultation with user groups
to assess and plan provision.
THE RELATIVE
ROLES OF
THE VOLUNTARY,
COMMUNITY, STATUTORY
AND PRIVATE
SECTORS IN
PROVIDING SERVICES
FOR YOUNG
PEOPLE
18. Traditionally these four sectors have a history
of not working smoothly together: Different methods and ideologies,
different groups outcomes and targets, different motivation, Different
funding patterns affecting style, quality and amount of work.
19. Council youth services are watered down and
not "statutory"—lack of strength and continuity,
money hasn't been invested in the right areas—money has
been thrown at Government priorities/targets rather than real
investment in long term projects and services wanted by the majority
of young people.
20. Importance of the social return on investment
in all youth work sectors against the future costs on wider society
without IYSS/youth sector provision—for example in: Education,
offending, health, social benefits—overall decrease in ECM
outcomes.
21. One of the key roles of many youth work organizations
is to engage young people in positive activities—without
a "Youth Service" who will engage young people? Where
will they go? Who will mentor and guide them?
THE TRAINING
AND WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT NEEDS
OF THE
SECTOR
22. One standard JNC recognised qualification
would be desirable.
23. Recruitment and selection criteria for full
time staff needs to be in line with other professional bodies
ensuring a more professional approach to youth work.
24. Greater accountability of individuals for
their work.
25. Clearer strategy and policy at the universal
level—proactive rather than reactive youth work models.
26. Youth service sector is proud of its tradition
off bringing future youth workers up through its member base—more
should be done to help this transition.
27. On going training to keep youth work professionals
informed, up to date, and best able to address young peoples concerns.
THE IMPACT
OF PUBLIC
SPENDING CUTS
ON FUNDING
AND COMMISSIONING
OF SERVICES,
INCLUDING HOW
AVAILABLE RESOURCES
CAN BEST
BE MAXIMISED,
AND WHETHER
PAYMENT BY
RESULTS IS
DESIRABLE AND
ACHIEVABLE
28. Massive depletion of frontline youth service
delivery.
29. How is commissioning cheaper in the long
run?
30. Cost of commissioning public companies.
31. Longevity and continuity of services are
key elements to successful programmes of good community work.
32. Short term commissioned projects do not take
account of the level of trust and relationships built up over
many years with young people their parents and the wider community.
33. Who will control the quality of commissioned
work?
34. Outcome based work is not always the best
way to judge a projects work.
35. Short term programmes don't offer real solutions
to larger community problems—we have a history of papering
over the cracks with short term social policies and practices.
36. How do we measure certain results? For example
a young person who attends a youth centre and through mentoring
doesn't follow a peer group into crime may save the country more
in the long term than a short term outcome based project.
37. Commissioned work is mainly driven by outcomes
that are cost relative—is this how we judge and standardise
good youth work practice?
HOW LOCAL
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES
AND STATUTORY
FRAMEWORKS IMPACT
ON SERVICE
PROVISION
38. Local Government in Croydon provides most
of the universal services including a framework for delivery—historically
the strongest point of first contact with young people comes through
youth centre provision.
39. Statutory youth work provision is one the
strongest threads of youth work provision—dates back way
before targeted work.
40. Council systems need to adapt to working
hours of Part time staff and volunteers as well as being more
accessible to young people.
41. Statutory services traditionally monitor
and support voluntary youth work provision—especially but
not exclusively those organizations receiving grants and Local
Government funding.
42. Age restrictive—we seriously need to
start working with younger people from the ages of 10 upwards.
43. Greater need for better communication from
councillors through to senior management to improve service provision.
HOW THE
VALUE AND
EFFECTIVENESS OF
SERVICES SHOULD
BE ASSESSED
44. Ask young people.
44. Less reliance on Statistics and numbers—these
can be affected by such factors as, poor inputting, False inputting,
presentation data and choice, data handling and statistic driven
outcome models.
45. Regular quality assurance based on proven
OFSTED youth work models.
46. Regular visits to all youth projects by experienced
qualified youth work professionals.
47. Paperwork and targets consistent and standardised
across the youth sector.
48. Clear concise targets across service provision
taking account of the unique nature of youth work in its developmental
relationship role with young people and the wider community.
49. Annual plans for all senior workers developed
with young people.
December 2010
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