NYA guidance offers blueprint to revitalise youth work services
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
National Youth Agency sets out what sufficient, high-quality youth services should look like, with emphasis on securing open-access provision, making greater use of digital support and investing more in the workforce.
A 70 per cent cut in council spending on services for young people has dramatically changed how local youth work is delivered; the standard model has been replaced with a patchwork of different approaches with, for example, some councils providing just targeted provision while others contract out delivery to not-for-profit mutuals.
The fall in funding has been the key driver behind the reduction in youth provision since 2010, but another factor is that youth services are governed by weak statutory guidance that requires councils to provide “sufficient” services “so far as is reasonably practicable”.
It is against this backdrop that the National Youth Agency (NYA) has produced recommendations on how to revitalise the role of youth services and address the thorny issue of what sufficient provision looks like. Its Role and Sufficiency of Youth Servicesguidance comes at a time when young people’s support needs are set to grow as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and link to a 10-year sector strategy (see box).
A future vision
The guidance aims to “provide greater clarity and consistency for the understanding of local authorities’ statutory duty to secure and support access to quality local youth services”. It sets out “practical and reasonable steps” that councils “should take” to level up youth services whether they are directly delivered or independent of the authority, it states.
The guide sets out a range of recommendations for what a good service looks like. However, it acknowledges that a “one-size-fits-all” description for what services look like “will be of limited value” due to varying local conditions.
Instead, it advocates an “access for all” approach that plans for 80 per cent of all young people to be in contact with youth services, 35 per cent on a regular basis, while 10 per cent will be supported by targeted, specialist provision. It also recommends a rethink on the age remit of youth services, with consideration being given to expanding the reach above and below the 13-19-years age range that is traditionally used.
Where it is prescriptive is in recommending that each youth service requires that at least two, full-time professionals who are JNC- (joint negotiating committee) qualified youth workers are located in a secondary school catchment area, along with a team of at least four youth support workers and trained volunteers.
“The notion of a core baseline and the guiding principles of reach, skill and range of provision seems to be a strong starting argument,” says Howard Williamson, professor of European youth policy at the University of South Wales. However, he says the proposal for two JNC-qualified staff with a “pyramid” of other staff below could be too basic. “Surely some dodgy patches might ‘need’ four?”
Meanwhile, a range of factors must be taken into account when securing access to quality youth services, the guide explains. Local transport links and the role played by the voluntary sector are crucial. The guide calls for more youth services to be based on the high street, while making use of digital platforms could help services reach more young people at a universal level. When mapping gaps in local provision, authorities should consider the support offered by charities and community organisations and work in partnership to develop this where appropriate.
Umbrella body London Youth backed the plan’s focus on all types of providers and says it is important for investment to go into existing provision as well as new alternatives. It also warned against “a danger of seeing universal delivery made possible via digital”.
“We know through lockdown many young people fell away from youth work after the initial Zoom interest – we started to see members finding innovative ways to connect in a face-to-face, distanced way through, for example, doorstep visits,” it says. “Relationships, as well as spaces to go, are at the heart of youth work, which online provision doesn’t deliver in the same way.”
Council lead role
There are a series of recommendations around the lead role councils can play in monitoring provision locally and setting ambitious targets for improving the quality of services.
Measures for councils include:
- Publish a “clear statement” of what a sufficient youth work offer is for activities and services in their area and how they plan to secure that.
- Produce an index of current open-access provision offered by all types of provider.
- Develop a minimum 10-year strategy for open-access youth services and a six-year. sustainability and growth plan
- Publish an annual report on progress against the strategy aims and changes to it.
Bernard Davies, steering committee member for campaign group In Defence of Youth Work, says giving councils strategic oversight is “important and necessary”.
“This comes with the hope – based on past experience – that, to guard against the actual delivery getting bogged down in local government bureaucracies, these strategic roles are matched with clearly devolved operational structures, including to non-state providers, which need not necessarily mean ‘traditional’ voluntary organisations,” he adds.
London Youth says such plans are good in theory, but in practice will be competing for funding against other services that have ‘higher priority’ such as education and social care.
“Without the detail behind how this will be funded, it’s hard to see how it will be implemented, especially in the next five years,” it adds.
Sufficiency issue
Key to clarifying the role of youth services is the outcome of a government review into statutory guidance for authorities on providing youth services. This was launched last year but has been delayed due to the pandemic. Councils have a duty to ensure access to quality youth services, but until the statutory guidance is clarified, accompanied by additional funding, youth services will remain under threat, the guide states.
The Institute for Youth Work backs the moves to provide greater clarity for local authorities on their duties.
“We hope that this report will carry enough gravitas to push the agenda forwards and that local authorities and youth work organisations will respond positively,” it states.
“The term ‘sufficient’, as used in the statute, is far too ambiguous to be useful. This lack of clarity in the statutory support for youth work has defined an era of cuts and loss of opportunity for young people.”
For Davies, the statutory guidance needs to be “radically revised” and the “reasonably practicable” phrase removed for councils to deliver sufficient provision that is meaningful.
“As long as that get-out route remains, all talk of sufficiency is likely to remain mere words on paper,” he adds.
Sara Tough, chair of the young people’s policy committee for the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, doesn’t pull any punches over the funding challenges facing councils.
“Local authorities are committed to ensuring that a range of positive activities are available to young people at the heart of their communities, helping them to grow and enriching their lives and we understand the need to invest but as budgets get tighter, tough decisions must be made,” she says.
“We are exploring new and different ways of arranging and delivering youth services, however, the challenge remains in continuing to deliver these services as our resources are shrinking with year-on-year funding reductions.”
TEN-YEAR VISION FOR YOUTH WORK
In addition to its role and sufficiency guide, the NYA has developed a Vision for Youth Work 2020-30, which it wants to use as the starting point for a wide-ranging consultation over developing a strategy for change.
The vision, due to be launched at the CYP Now Youth Work in the 2020s conference held during Youth Work Week on 2-6 November, puts forward a commitment that young people in England grow up safe and secure, treated fairly and ambitious for their future. To ensure this, they need access to trusted adults with the skills for safe and effective youth work practice.
The vision sets measures on how to turn the commitment into change on the ground, including how politicians and policymakers can boost funding, raise the professional status, and create the right support infrastructure. Key elements of the vision include:
- All young people to have access to a full range of quality open-access and targeted youth services delivered by qualified practitioners, for which minimum levels of staffing should be set, with in-person services supplemented by digital provision, and for young people to be fully involved in the design of provision.
- Youth work should be recognised as a distinct form of education with a curriculum that focuses on personal and social development and gives professionals the tools to equip young people with life skills.
- A youth work premium introduced to help the most disadvantaged young people access leisure, youth work and learning activities.
- A target to recruit and train 10,000 qualified youth workers, and introduce bursaries to train 20,000 support workers and volunteers.
- £1.2bn ring-fenced for open-access youth services, a capital investment programme in community facilities, and extending the reach of digital services by investing in technology.
- A nationally census and baseline for local youth provision, secured through local youth partnerships.
- A Youth Covenant setting out agreed outcomes for young people, adherence to which is assessed annually, creation of local youth partnerships bringing together public, private and voluntary sectors, and each council to produce long-term investment strategies.
- Targets for 2030 including improved social mobility, reduced negative social problems, an end to digital poverty, increased volunteering with young people and more engagement.
Once consulted upon, the vision will be turned into a strategy and year-on-year delivery plan. NYA chief executive Leigh Middleton will be outlining more details of the vision during his conference speech. He said: “Our 10-Year Vision sets out the most pressing actions to be taken to secure and sustain quality provision for all our young people. This requires significant investment in recruitment, training and mobilisation of youth workers and skilled volunteers, supported by quality standards and the youth work curriculum. It means opening up career pathways, raising the status of youth work and embracing the rich heritage of local authority and voluntary youth services. We must seek out young people’s concerns, with their voices included in decision-making. We are ambitious for youth work and young people, and the collective impact of the youth sector. To aim for less would be failing our young people and communities.”