Conservative-controlled Northamptonshire County Council was one of the first to outsource its youth service to voluntary and private organisations in 2007. But Debbie Goodfellow, county director for Clubs for Young People Northampton, which supports 25 youth clubs in the area, told CYP Now the new approach has pulled the voluntary sector apart.
"We've become a very fragmented voluntary sector, competing for the same contracts. It has made us very business-orientated and cutthroat," she said.
Goodfellow added that under the contracted model there is a lack of full-time qualified youth workers in the area and fewer training opportunities.
Gloucestershire County Council contracted out the management of its youth service in 2008 to Prospects Services. Diana Organ, former chief executive of charity Young Gloucestershire, said it had created an "unfair situation where the commissioner is also a provider".
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