CYP Now - Editorial: Let's make staff a New Year priority

The publication of the Children's Plan before Christmas and the pledge of an additional 160m for youth facilities over the next two years was a fitting way to round off last year (see page 5).

But now the dust has settled there does appear to be one oversight in the proposals - the workforce. The National Youth Agency noted this in its response to the strategy, stressing that "still more needs to be done to develop and support" the children's workforce and the recruitment of youth workers.

The fact remains that youth work is a less attractive career option compared with many other professions. Pay and conditions still lag behind other comparable jobs such as teaching and the only real incentive to enter youth work is an individual's desire to want to bring about an improvement in young lives. The reality is that in the not too distant future there could well be lots of new facilities for young people but alarmingly few fully trained staff to properly manage and run them.

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