Championing the impact of good quality youth work

The North East in particular has seen this play out in real terms, with a 76 per cent decrease in local authority spending on youth services in Northumbria alone during this period. 

As well as the negative impact this has had on young people and communities; with many young people in our region simply never having heard of a youth centre or experienced an engagement with a youth worker. 

We are facing a current and increasing crisis in regards to recruitment and retention of staff at all levels. Many youth workers have left the sector following the years of austerity, either for more secure jobs or simply because the projects they worked on ended and in some cases the organisations that employed them closed. Finding qualified staff is a challenge. As the pipeline of new people coming into the sector narrows it does not address the numbers who are leaving or have already left. The number of institutions delivering youth work degrees has reduced significantly in recent years – we rely on Sunderland University as the only provider in our region.

For too long there has been a lack of understanding about youth work. Many wouldn't accredit it to being a career or 'proper' profession and this has exacerbated the problem when it comes to recruitment and investment into the sector. Through the North East Youth Alliance (NEYA), we want to tackle this issue and welcome the investment into youth work training via the NYA bursaries, which have been made possible by £790,000 of government funding FOR 2022/23. 

The NEYA wants to change the perception of youth work and spread the word about what a rich, rewarding, progressive career it can be and clearly demonstrate the vital support it provides for young people and communities across many areas of their lives. Our campaign will shine the light on youth work, it will highlight the importance of youth workers, tell their stories and what it feels like to be a youth worker in 2022 whilst trying to educate and inform the public, media and stakeholders.

The main objectives for the campaign are to grow understanding, increase recruitment and investment and encourage new allies to join the movement so that together we can disseminate positive messages around youth work. We want to make youth work attractive again and highlight that there is value to the different roles it plays to young people's lives and the contribution it makes within the wider sector.

We are at the point where action needs to be taken. We feel the time is right to re-frame the narrative around the sector. We need to be bold and champion the impact and effectiveness of good quality youth work.  

Kevin Franks is joint chief executive of NEYA