Seventeen-year-old Lauren Williams from Lincolnshire has always wanted to pursue a career in performing arts but has been unable to afford to attend regular dance classes.
But thanks to the Empowering Young People pilot scheme run by her local council, Lauren, who is entitled to free school meals, now receives £40 a month to spend on positive activities of her choice. "I go twice a week and do modern dance," she says. "I've wanted to do it for a long time."
The Empowering Young People pilot scheme has emerged from the ashes of the scrapped youth opportunity card. The card, which had been a standout proposal of the Youth Matters green paper in 2005, aimed to put "buying power directly in the hands of young people". But in the face of stiff opposition from within the youth sector over costs and concerns about the viability of the technology, the scheme was abandoned in February 2007.
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