Youth workers fear job losses in North Lincolnshire service overhaul

Fears that the proposals are driven by cost-cutting and will lead to redundancies and poorer services for young people, were made public in a blog published by a Scunthorpe youth worker.

Confidential council documents seen by CYP Now suggest the plans will save the council £150,000 during 2013/14 and result in an equivalent loss of eight full-time youth service posts, affecting 74 part-time staff in total.

The council’s cabinet member for young people Rob Waltham has defended the proposals, arguing that youth workers will be redeployed within the authority and that any changes will improve provision without reducing spending on services for young people.

But the youth worker, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed that plans to offer grants of £10,000 to applicants who want to run services would mean activities were delivered by people without training in youth work, and leave young people subject to a postcode lottery of provision.

The staff member said that youth service employees were told to expect redundancy letters on 31 December 2012, but these had not been received because of a delay in the council’s decision-making process.