Though hardly marked by coherence, New Labour's social policy has been underpinned by a critical view of the welfare state. Services have been judged cumbersome and fragmented, management inefficient, actual provision determined too much by providers' priorities rather than, as Tony Blair himself put it, "around the user".
To achieve the desired reforms, New Labour has embarked on (repeated) surges of organisational restructuring. For youth work, change has been driven, in part, by policy statements such as Transforming Youth Work and Resourcing Excellent Youth Services, which have focused on the service itself.
Because a key overall aim has been to 'join up' services, the greatest impact has come through 'modernising' other provision. This led to the creation of Connexions to smooth the school-to-work transition and, when this was deemed a failure, the move to fully integrate children's services through the proposals laid out in Every Child Matters and its offspring Youth Matters.
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
