Youth services key to raising participation age, says ADCS

As of summer next year, all young people in England must continue in education or training until the academic year in which they turn 17, rising to 18 from 2015.

But Mark Carraline, director of children’s services in Bury, and ADCS lead on youth provision, said more must be done to provide alternatives for young people not suited to mainstream education or training.

Speaking at the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services (CHYPS) convention, he argued that participation rates for 17-year-olds is already at a high level, with around 90 per cent of young people in Bury currently engaged in education, training or an apprenticeship.

Carraline insisted that those not participating in such provision would require entirely different options to what currently exists.

“How do we get that 10 per cent participating?” he said. “Youth work skills could be part of the mix. The answer is certainly not more of what we have now. Different forms of provision are needed.”

To protect the future of local services for young people, Carraline said that councils must find ways of demonstrating the long-term impact of youth work, and explore new delivery models such as the troubled families agenda.

“There is an absolute requirement to make the case for services,” he said. “If you don’t, they will disappear.”