Grant funding is vital to youth work

It is moving towards more services being contracted out under its commissioning framework. So work is procured from across the voluntary sector that delivers against the local authority's stated priorities and helps it meet specified targets. This has advantages. It means there is more accountability: services are commissioned with a clear sense of purpose that satisfy council objectives.

However, grant funding also has a crucial role to play in the mix of services. Any decision to abandon grant funding in favour of buying youth services purely to specification is a big mistake and a retrograde step. It undermines the role of the local voluntary sector to challenge and innovate and forces them to conform to the local authority agenda. Small charities, in particular, through their closeness to communities, should be allowed to shape that agenda - not simply compelled to tailor their offer to meet the demands of the local authority. Now some smaller youth charities in our second city, many of which deliver a lifeline to disadvantaged young people, could be threatened with extinction.