Call for bold youth work vision

In October, the all-party parliamentary group on youth affairs published the interim findings from our youth work inquiry. Our cross-party inquiry, supported by the National Youth Agency (NYA), set out to consider what is the role of youth work and if there are sufficient youth workers and youth services to meet the needs of young people.

It has been more than seven years since the last parliamentary inquiry on youth work and services. In the intervening period, we have seen a national youth strategy shelved, and we are on our sixth minister and third government department. Austerity cuts have disproportionately hit youth services with a knock-on effect to smaller charities and community groups. Experienced youth workers have been lost to the system; training pathways have been fractured from senior management levels to volunteers.

Civil Society Strategy

Why does this matter now? In August, the government published its Civil Society Strategy which "recognises the transformational impact that youth services and trained youth workers can have, especially for young people facing multiple barriers or disadvantage". Meanwhile, young people recently voted in large numbers in the UK Youth Parliament poll "to call on government and local authorities to, at minimum, introduce legal protection for a minimal level of provision for the development of young people".

In response to recent events and crises, notably on knife crime, there have been calls to restore youth services and, increasingly, for support and services designed with or activities led by young people. Where the loss of services has been pronounced there are concerns also for "overlooked" young people who do not meet the threshold for targeted interventions; this has gained coverage more recently in terms of mental health and loneliness.

Open access or universal youth services have all but disappeared from some communities, and a greater impact felt in rural areas. There is a great heritage of voluntary provision, including faith and uniformed groups. However, the nature of funding that does predominantly exist, being time limited in the main, has caused a shift to short-term and targeted interventions.

Schools are overloaded; we need to recognise 85 per cent of a young person's waking hours are outside formal education. Scouts, Guides and uniformed groups, community youth and sports clubs and after-school activities fulfil some of that need and rely on an army of volunteers. This can lead to difficulties in recruitment in some areas, sustained over time, in particular where support is needed from trained youth workers. UK Youth reported the loss of more than 600 youth centres and 139,000 places for young people between 2012 and 2016. More must be done also to ensure the needs of excluded or disengaged young people are met, as well as young adults beyond school age.

Within the debate and evidence for youth work there are too many young people who do not necessarily have the family or social networks to support them, yet may not meet the threshold for targeted services or funded programmes. We need to provide a positive commitment from across government to our young people, and a new "compact" between the statutory and voluntary sector with young people for a clear policy statement and guidance which recognises the benefits of youth work. This collective impact is key to ensuring no young person is "left behind", with the skills, resilience and flexibility needed for a rapidly changing society and labour market.

Baseline local youth services

The forthcoming consultation and government review of the statutory duty on local authorities to secure a sufficient youth offer is an opportunity to deliver clear guidance for a baseline for local youth services. As we enter the next Comprehensive Spending Review and an "end to austerity" we wish to see greater investment and commitment to support for youth services and access to quality youth work, which also allows an "eco-system" of youth provision to flourish in a community.

Overall, there is a need to raise awareness and professional standing of youth workers that supports a larger base of volunteers. The message to us from young people was one of hope and possibility. They are ambitious for the future - not just for themselves but their community and society as a whole - if given the right support. The recommendations in our interim report aim to provide some of the building blocks for that support (see below). These will be expanded upon when we publish our full report in the new year.

• Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP is chair of the all-party parliamentary group on youth affairs
  

YOUTH WORK INQUIRY: KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

• A high-level strategy supported by government and a lead role for the local authority to ensure access to sufficient, quality youth work provision in an area
• A review of spending on youth services, beginning by reinstating the local authority audit previously funded by government and carried out by the NYA
• Development of a workforce strategy for the entire children's workforce and renewed national standards for youth work by 2020, including skills and support for volunteers
• Inclusion of young people in decision-making and democratic engagement, to be listened to and have their views heard and respected

Source: The Role and Sufficiency of Youth Work, Youth Work Inquiry interim findings, APPG for youth affairs, October 2018