Youth workers 'scapegoats' for social care failings

The Unite union believes the council’s plans to reduce the £3.7m annual youth services budget by more than £1m over the next two years are linked to an “inadequate” judgment on its child protection services in May last year.

The council announced the proposed funding cut at the same time it unveiled plans to reorganise youth services in February, which includes targeting resources at providing early help to vulnerable young people and contracting out more services to the voluntary sector.

But Unite said the authority is paying out bonuses to maintain morale among “demoralised social work managers” following the critical report last year.

Mark Richards, Unite regional officer, said youth workers were never part of Ofsted’s review and thinks cuts to the service are unfair.

He said: “What I find most disturbing about these cuts to a vital community service is the lack of transparency and the constant reference to the damning Ofsted report on children’s social care.

“The council is failing to tell the public that the youth service was not even part of the Ofsted review.

“Our members are being made scapegoats for the increasing cost of social work – itself made worse by the coalition’s austerity measures.

“Axing a value-for-money service, built up over the decades by loyal hardworking staff is not the way to balance the books and will lead to greater social problems in the future.”

A council spokesman defended the cuts and said the authority can no longer afford to provide non-statutory services.

He said: “Many independent and voluntary groups already provide excellent youth services throughout Devon and we are asking people to come forward with ideas for new services they could provide, possibly using our premises.

“This will allow us to target our professional youth service work on the most vulnerable young people in our society, those at risk of drink or drug misuse, of harm or of getting into trouble with the police.

“We are currently consulting with staff and the wider community over these plans but our budget calls for a reduction of £740,000 in the new financial year with the loss of 70 full-time equivalent jobs.”