Union condemns 'catastrophic' Staffordshire youth cuts

The West Midlands authority has approved plans to scale back its youth provision in an attempt to reduce the service’s budget by £2.8m amid council-wide plans to save a total of £103m.

The council will scrap its universal youth offer affecting 27 youth centres and move towards delivering community-based activities for the county’s most vulnerable children and young people and those with special educational needs.

The decision to streamline youth provision was made after council research, carried out last year, revealed that just one in five of Staffordshire’s 73,315 young people used its youth service in the last year, at a cost of £8.73m.

The council also publicly consulted on the plans when they were put forward in December – the feedback of which made it clear that children and young people no longer want to attend traditional council-run facilities, according to Mark Sutton, cabinet member for public health and community safety.

He said: “Three quarters of young people have effectively already told us that traditional council-run youth clubs no longer meet their needs and at a time where we need to make the most of the resources available, it is difficult to justify spending millions on clubs that are not fully used or wanted by the vast majority.

“The time is right to change to focus much more on what young people do want and less on what they don’t want and don’t use.”

The council will look at how it delivers in each of its districts individually before making any changes and has said there are no immediate plans to close any youth clubs.

But Neil Salter, Unite’s regional officer, has said that cuts to the service will be “catastrophic” no matter what shape they take.

He said: “Unite are very concerned about the cabinet’s decision. The effect it will have on children and young people across Staffordshire will be extremely detrimental.

“We expect large-scale dismissals of professionals and trained youth workers, and the dismantling of the youth service.

“We consider the cuts to be catastrophic to children and young people as they go from adolescence into adulthood.”

Salter added that Unite representatives would meet with the council as part of a statutory consultation process.

The council currently spends £5.9m a year on running youth clubs and a further £2.75m on careers guidance for young people.