The project, co-ordinated by the Federation for Detached Youth Work, was commissioned by The National Youth Agency last year as part of its Partners in Innovation programme.
The federation is working with eight youth services across England to develop the standards, helped by a steering group of people including principal youth officers, youth workers and academics.
The main themes of the standards will be training, staff development, management and youth participation.
The project aims to set out the resources needed for the effective organisation and management of detached youth work and to specify minimum standards of training and support for workers. It also aims to provide guidance on encouraging the hardest-to-reach young people to voice their views and to set out how detached workers should operate alongside building-based provision, as well as the allocation of working hours.
Graeme Tiffany, who is managing the project for The National Youth Agency, said: "Detached youth work is seen as a solution to things such as antisocial behaviour, which means it carries high expectations."
The participating authorities are Camden, Kent, Worcestershire, Blackpool, Tameside, Nottingham, East Riding and Shef- field Futures, a charity formed by the merger of Sheffield Careers Guidance Services and Sheffield Youth Service.
Federation for Detached Youth Work: 0116 242 7490.
