Children's Workforce Guide to Qualifications and Training: Youth work

Youth workers are increasingly taking roles outside traditional youth work settings, such as housing programmes, within the NHS, and in social care or youth justice-focused programmes. As local authorities cut back on traditional youth work, the local authority funding that used to support youth workers through qualifications and training is also drying up.

Despite this, recruitment to youth and community training programmes has increased, according to National Youth Agency (NYA) figures, rising from 701 students in 2013 to 793 in 2014. The number of undergraduate courses on offer has fallen slightly, while there has been a rise in the number of postgraduate courses. While some courses seem to be thriving, others are failing to attract enough students to go ahead. There are no youth work courses at all on offer in the East of England, whereas London and Yorkshire and Humberside have 10 each.

At a local authority level, youth workers can be youth support workers, with Level 2 and 3 qualifications, and professional youth workers at Level 6 and above. Local authority youth workers are paid according to the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) salary scale.

The JNC, the body that sets the national framework used to grade and pay youth work jobs, recently won a two-year pay increase for qualified local authority youth workers, which kicked in this month.

Earlier this year, employers said they wanted to end the JNC agreement and transfer youth workers to the same terms and conditions as other local government staff, a move opposed by youth work unions, who successfully lobbied against it. However, local authority youth work employers have said they will be reviewing the professional framework and its link with the JNC in more detail over the next 12 months, and have asked the NYA to consult on the framework with key voluntary sector organisations over the next few months.

As well as setting the salary and grading framework, the JNC also endorses youth work qualifications. JNC qualifications are transferable across the UK and are fully recognised as youth work qualifications by employers. However, the uncertainty about the future of the JNC framework is undermining confidence in the value of JNC-endorsed youth work courses, according to the NYA. The Institute for Youth Work has made "promoting education pathways" one of its key priorities, which will include better marketing about what youth work is, and the skills needed in the changing landscape in which youth workers operate. The institute has also said it will explore the viability and potential impact of introducing a youth work register and licence to practice.

Only 8.8 per cent of youth work students go into local authority youth work, with 30 per cent going on to work in the voluntary sector, according to NYA figures. One growing employer is the government-backed youth scheme the National Citizen Service, which the government has set aside £1.2bn to expand.

Youth work degrees are meeting the need for flexibility with modules covering social care, health, social enterprise and business development.

While it is possible to work with young people without a JNC-recognised qualification, the recognised training is a Level 2/3 qualification in Youth Work Practice for youth support workers. The qualifications have 35 optional modules covering a diverse range of practice, such as supporting young people with disabilities. For professional youth workers the standard training is JNC-recognised professional youth work programmes available at BA (Hons) or post-graduate level.

The NYA has partnered with Leeds Beckett University to launch a four-year part-time youth work qualification. The BA (Hons) Youth Work and Community Development course, which launched last year, is available at the NYA's offices in Leicester and at Leeds, and requires attendance one day a week for four years, as well as work-based learning. The programme is eligible for student finance loans in the same way as other full-time youth work programmes.