Make weekends fun for the young

CYP Now's survey, timed to coincide with Open Weekend, the government's campaign to have more youth facilities open, shows the will and appetite does exist among youth workers and young people for more weekend provision. But it would come at a cost: 68 per cent say they would have to stop running other projects in the week. Aside from the "yes or no" responses to our survey, participants were invited to provide comments to questions - and here some interesting concerns emerge. Many workers say working at weekends would compromise their own family life. However, it should be up to local authorities and individual youth projects to ensure their staff have the best possible work-life balance, while ensuring activities are available when young people want them. This might mean staff working a weekend evening instead of a current weekday session but for managers it comes down to the organisation of resources and, for staff, the ordering of personal priorities.