CYP Now - Youth services must be part of lockdown exit strategy, urges NYA

Youth services need to be empowered and up-skilled to help meet the immediate needs of vulnerable young people once the UK’s lockdown is lifted, a youth charity has said.

NYA chief executive Leigh Middleton says the long-term damage caused to young people could be "unimaginable". Picture: NYA

In its latest report, Out of Sight?, the National Youth Agency (NYA) says more than a million young people with known needs amplified by the coronavirus pandemic, together with an estimated two million more with emerging needs triggered or caused by Covid-19, will need increased support once lockdown measures are eased.

The charity is calling for youth work to be supported as an essential service for these vulnerable young people which it says will face increasing challenges as they head towards the summer months.

The report says youth workers, many of whom have been furloughed by youth charities or redeployed to other jobs from local authority youth services, should form part of a clear exit strategy once the lockdown is no longer enforced.

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