Protect youth work by enacting statutory duty

When teenagers turn up to A&E departments with stab wounds from fights, it is youth workers – not medics or the police – they open up to about their vulnerability and fears. And as youth mental health deteriorates amid falling living standards it is youth workers young people turn to for support when they can’t get a GP appointment. It’s no exaggeration to say youth workers can be the difference between life and death for a young person.

Yet everywhere you look there’s examples of youth services being closed, and support being cut. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen the British Youth Council go to the wall after 75 years, Bradford Council agree to deep cuts to youth work provision, and charity Redthread announce it is to decommission its award-winning youth violence intervention programme at Nottingham University Hospitals. All cite a lack of funding as the reason for the decisions, the latest casualties of the financial crisis gripping local authorities as funding from central government fails to keep up with the needs of communities and citizens.