Young people's services undergo major change as cuts deepen

Young people’s services are being reshaped in local authorities across England as spending cuts continue to bite, a survey by CYP Now has revealed.

Responses from senior managers of young people’s services shows that total spending on provision across local authorities in England has fallen by 12.8 per cent in 2012/13, coming on the back of a 12.5 per cent cut in 2011/12.

Fifty-eight councils responded to the survey, amounting to two-fifths of the national total. It reveals that 787.9 posts have been lost in young people’s services since April 2011. Extrapolated to all 152 local authorities in England, the figure comes to 2,065 posts. On average, 9.6 posts were lost in each council in 2011/12 and 6.8 posts have gone in each authority so far this year.

The survey also found that more than four out of 10 local authorities (41.5 per cent) no longer provide some youth services, with those that are on offer set to be increasingly provided by the third sector.

Open-access universal provision has been hit hardest, indicating that authorities are shifting the balance of resources towards more targeted work. Connexions services were also cited as having been cut entirely by three respondents.

Third-sector provision
In terms of commissioning, the survey found that around 19 per cent of local authority provision is currently provided through the third sector – nearly £1 in every £5 spent. Five authorities already commission 50 per cent or more of their services through the third sector.

One respondent warned that the move to commission more services from outside as funding diminishes would make it difficult for new providers to improve outcomes for young people.

“There is already a growing recognition and apprehension in the field about the fragility and lack of capacity of the local third sector marketplace of providers and their readiness to engage with those young people that are the most difficult to reach and engage,” the respondent said.

Others raised similar concerns that the voluntary and community sector (VCS) is not in a position to take on the additional work.

“The impact of cuts on VCS providers is reducing capacity to innovate and respond to changes,” one respondent said. “Local authority services are strained and unable to provide adequate support to the VCS to stimulate this complementary market.

“Big society ideology is simply not an operational reality. Both sectors are interdependent and the current situation is harming both.

“As a result, young people are at greater risk at the time they need the youth offer most.”

David Wright, chief executive of the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services, warns that vital safeguards could be lost as authorities deliver fewer young people’s services themselves.

Quality assurance
“It is vital that there is some quality assurance present to support commissioners in delivering work and getting ?value for money for young people,” he warns.

“Also, local authority youth services have traditionally provided a focus for workforce development locally – not just for their own staff, but for staff in the voluntary sector as well.

“If you don’t have the critical mass of people engaged in youth work at the local authority and the profession is fragmented with a variety of providers, there is no focus for providing workforce development. It has a knock-on effect on the quality of experience for young people locally.”

Faiza Chaudary, deputy chief executive at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, says: “Young people are bearing the brunt of difficult spending decisions, with more than 40 per cent of local authorities saying they no longer provide some youth services.

“While some of this can be put down to reconfiguring services, with less than a fifth of local authority youth services being commissioned to the third sector, we need a really good look at what we can all do for young people. We remain extremely concerned that the voluntary and community youth sector, which provides vital services for young people, is facing serious challenges owing to the reduced investment.”

But Colin Green, chair of the families, communities and young people’s policy committee at the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, argues that local authorities have been successful in retaining services that are focused on those young people who need them most, despite the cuts.

“That nearly 20 per cent of youth services are commissioned to the voluntary sector suggests local authorities have found ways of ensuring positive activities for young people are provided at the heart of their communities, even where in-house services may have reduced,” he says.

A number of respondents cited how funding cuts had prompted professionals to find innovative ways of working.
“It was devastating at the time to lose our service and to see some good staff lost to the profession,” one said.

“However, not having to manage staff issues or crumbling 100-year-old buildings has had a marked impact on how much time is able to be spent more closely with partners and giving greater consideration to the work. From a negative, something very positive is coming out.”

New responsibilities
Changes were, meanwhile, identified in relation to where young people’s services sit within local authorities. A third of respondents said their young people’s service was no longer a “standalone” service.

Young people’s service chiefs are also taking on additional responsibilities. Of those, one in 10 said the head of service was now responsible for youth justice, while one in three were responsible for advice and guidance and nearly half said they had duties relating to other services. These included early intervention, play, teenage pregnancy and adult education.

The survey also elicited more radical responses to current challenges. One respondent raised the prospect of combining staff across two local authority areas in an apparent service merger, while another said the council’s children’s services department is exploring becoming a community interest company.

“Our children’s services are merging with adult wellbeing and health on 1 August, and we are losing the children’s services director,” another added. “The future remains very uncertain.”