Wiltshire youth services 'at risk of disappearing'

Wiltshire Council wants to cut its youth service budget by £500,000 - part of council-wide plans to save £120m over the next four years - by restructuring its youth work provision.

It is considering four options – outsourcing the service, encouraging staff to develop an employee-led mutual, retaining the current service but significantly reducing its budget, and developing a community-led approach.

But the Unite union, which represents the majority of Wiltshire’s youth workers, fears the county’s 24 youth centres will disappear completely, making 144 youth workers redundant, if the council decides to go for the community-led provision option.

Alan Tomala, Unite’s regional officer, said: “We face the real possibility that by the end of August we will have no youth workers, empty youth centres boarded up and young people hanging around outside them with nothing to do.

“The council would prefer the community-led model option which will see professionally qualified youth workers removed and replaced by a small grants budget in each area across Wiltshire.

“Community groups can then apply to provide ‘positive activities’ for young people.”

The council says changes are also required to better meet the needs of young people, after research showed that just eight per cent of 13- to 19-year-olds living in Wiltshire currently use its services.