Give big society funding to youth clubs, urges think-tank

By Gabriella Jozwiak, Thursday 10 January 2013

Youth clubs are among the small voluntary and community sector organisations being marginalised by the big society agenda, a report has warned.

IPPR North's report found smaller community charities, such as youth groups, were being hit hardest by funding cuts. Image: Paul Carter

The report by the think-tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North claims that the government’s big society agenda is at risk of failure, because central and local government are too focused on commissioning large charities to run public services, rather than providing grants for small local organisations, such as youth clubs, that are the “bedrock” of civil society.

IPPR North analysed a sample of 28,000 organisations with incomes of less than £60,000, and found that only 10 per cent were located in the most deprived neighbourhoods. But those in the most deprived areas where twice as likely to be receiving statutory funding and, therefore, were most vulnerable to cuts.

“We know that small community groups play a vital role in supporting the social and economic health of poor neighbourhoods – they’re the youth clubs giving young people places to go and support groups for people going through a difficult time in their lives,” said Ed Cox, director of IPPR North.

“Yet it is these organisations that are being hit hardest in the areas that desperately need their support. Where richer communities are better able to rely on volunteers and local philanthropy to see them through this lean period, the so-called big society finds it harder to survive in the communities that need it most.

“This survey is just the tip of the iceberg as there could be as many as half a million small organisations not captured in the statistics.”

The report meanwhile suggests that the Big Society Capital funding initiative, which provides organisations with funding from dormant bank accounts, is poorly tailored to the needs of small charities, arguing that such cash should be reserved for small community groups.

Faiza Khan, deputy chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), said the report chimes with her organisation’s own findings.

“NCVYS’s Comprehensive Cuts series of reports pointed to dwindling resources over 2010 and 2011 in the youth sector as a whole – unfortunately we have seen finances continue to be squeezed,” said Khan. “We know that smaller charities struggle to access resources.”

Khan said small community groups were struggling to find specialist support that could help them attract funding, in areas including networking, communications, evaluating outcomes and “simply having the time to put bids together while running frontline services on a shoestring.”

“NCVYS is keen to encourage more collaboration between larger and smaller charities, where charities pool their resources, enrich their offer and deliver more to young people,” said Khan.

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All comments

Yes Please Before We All Close

Jan Cosgrove wrote:

11 Jan 2013

As Acting Chair of a youth info shop, where the County has told 42 out of 68 youth centres they won't be supported after March 2014 (but they can take over the buildings if they like...), and where the County has slashed the youth budget by 62% over recent years, I am inclined to wonder "who will want to reinvent the wheel" in a few years?

'Targeted youth work' 'NEETS' and other stuff which says no more local youth club where you can hang out for nothing with your mates etc. Who wants to attend a targeted facility for NEETS???

This Govt is to blame - S508 of the Education Act 1996 lays obligations on LEAs, and S507a and b amendments from the ED&TrAct 2006 make those obligations more specific. It's a dead letter especially the bit where it says LEAs are obligated to seek to cooperate with vol orgs in this area. It's a dead letter because not only are there the cuts but no one has stopped LEAs from targeting youth services for most severe cuts.

The preventative work undertaken as a matter of 'habit' by youth projects is being trashed, cynically and deliberately by LEA administrations up and down the country, West Sussex being a particularly gruesome offender. Reviews upon reviews, senior officers sacking all but themselves, front-line work going to the wall, daft schemes being whistled out of thin air and presented to gormless County Cabinet members as radical new directions instead of paring back and back and then some more.

What he said.

Arthur Battram wrote:

14 Jan 2013

Couldn't agree more.

Once you target youth, (other than trying to bring provision to them by intelligent location - not near old people's homes, not as part of school, close to thoroughfares, not hidden away) you turn off youth.

Nobody wants to be targeted, nobody sees themselves as a walking label.

Pish and tosh.

Same in Gloucestershire

Mark Bick wrote:

14 Jan 2013

All our local authority youth clubs were closed a couple of years ago and the idea of community organisations taking them over has only worked in a few, generally wealthier areas and even then the level of use by young people has often gone down. Our organisation has had to abandon open provision which we had previously run very successfully for many years.

There is no funding and it is an area where people just cannot afford the full cost. What is frustrating is that every year I gave a list of our participants to a teacher at the school on whose site we operated and every time she confirmed that we were reaching young people with very high levels of need.

They were in with everyone else and benefiting hugely from that. We also have many young people wanting to volunteer, but no resources to support them.

A view of things to come

iain webb wrote:

16 Jan 2013

It's only now that the spectre of huge cuts is looming north of the border. I have read with interest and sadness the demise of youth services down south. The targeted approach of youth work, while hitting govt and funders' figures, is now beginning to marginalise "ordinary" young people's attendance at local youth groups, with groups closing as they are not included for HMI purposes.

The reality is that groups have become dependent on external funders and "service level agreements" just mean more money and jobs going from local authorities to charities or whoever can provide a lower-cost, but not necessarily better, provision. New Labour once heralded "things can only get better". We are all wondering when, especially for the young people we work with and support.

Fear for voluntary youth clubs

Jenny Mcdonald wrote:

17 Jan 2013

I have been supporting voluntary youth clubs for many years in my role with Kent County Council. Now redundant I'm very fearful of how these groups will be able to continue without the support from qualified and experienced youth workers and funding.

We are just commencing here in Kent with commissioned providers, but I fear the funding will not be adequate to cover all the needs of young people, especially in the rural areas.

I think the Government needs to make the Big Society fund available to those voluntary youth organisations that will fail without this support even if minimal over the next few years.

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