??The move to focus on targeted work comes after councillors at Bexley Council agreed in February to cut its youth services budget by £358,000, a third of the previous annual spend.
Targeted provision will include programmes on healthy relationships, knife crime prevention, sexual health, substance misuse and one-to-one mentoring. Voluntary sector organisations will also continue to provide a range of activities across the borough including sports, arts and drama.
The service will work closely with Bexley’s new Family Wellbeing Service and operate from three area-based hubs. It is expected to launch on 6 June.?
The council said the new service will no longer require some buildings currently used by the youth service.
Philip Read, lead member for children’s services, said a majority of responses to a consultation on the changes "fully supported" the new targeted service.
??He said: “The new redesigned service will increase high-intensity one-to-one work with children and young people to improve the likelihood of their engagement and avoid potential risks including antisocial behaviour, criminality and family breakdown.
??“All these have a high cost to the borough's residents and it is therefore right that our resources should be directed toward them rather than providing alternatives to services already available.”??
"By making our services more targeted to those young people that need us, we can do the most good within the limited budget we now have to work with and that benefits all Bexley's residents.”?
