Findings from a Cabinet Office survey of local authority youth services provide an insight into the depth of the funding crisis affecting the sector nationally.
Much of the data, based on a survey of council youth services leads carried out last autumn and covering up to the 2013/14 period, confirms the trends that many in the sector had been warning about for some time – namely, that spending is on the slide and universal provision is the main loser as more of the dwindling pot is channelled into targeted interventions.
However, a finding that has caught many by surprise is the admission by more than half of survey respondents that they sometimes ignore statutory guidance when making funding decisions.
Statutory guidance
Section 507B of the Education and Inspections Act 1996 - statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Education – places a legal duty on local authorities to provide sufficient activities and services for 13- to 19-year-olds, and young people under 24 with learning difficulties.
However, of the 97 councils that responded to the survey, only 41 said that the 1996 act always plays a role in their decisions about which youth services to fund. This means that at least 56 authorities are failing to fully adhere to the legislation – one council even admits to never adhering to it.
David Wright, chief executive of the Confederation of Heads of Young People's Services (Chyps), expects the situation has developed due to a lack of repercussions for councils that neglect their duty.
"If we have a situation where local authorities are not taking account of the statutory guidance, it's because there is not a recognition and because there have been no consequences," he says.
"The statutory guidance is quite good. It's not just about youth work, it's about the whole transition. But it needs to have some follow through.
"To make it really effective, the government has got to push it. The consequence of not having it is reductions in services, as the survey shows."
However, councillor David Simmonds, chair of the Local Government Association's (LGA) children and young people board, defends councils' record, saying he wouldn't expect officials to use the statutory guidance as a "starting point" when making decisions about youth services.
"You need the local knowledge," he explains.
"Asking about statutory guidance rather misses the point of what councils are doing because the guidance talks about the minimum expectations in a legal framework and when we talk to young people, they don't talk about what they want in terms of statutory guidance."
Another of the survey's findings also illustrates the lack of priority given to youth services within councils.
Just 28.8 per cent of councils report to "very highly" value youth services, a figure that surprises Chyps's Wright.
"A lot of local councillors actually value youth services as quite important because they are things that actually happen in their communities and their wards, and that's really important to local authorities," he says.
Wright thinks the finding reflects the "huge" funding challenges facing councils. "It's something that people don't necessarily not value – they want to support them, but that's really hard given other strong priorities."
Fiona Blacke, chief executive of the National Youth Agency (NYA), says greater value needs to be given to youth services.
"The cuts in youth service expenditure are significant and in some areas, the offer to young people is likely to be significantly diminished – something we feel is short-sighted given the preventative effect good youth work can have on young people just below the radar of criminal, health or social services," she says.
However, the LGA's Simmonds is unsurprised by the finding and says councils' perceptions of youth services will be influenced by the different definitions of what the service entails.
"In surveys, the questions are quite vague and general, and youth services can encompass everything from highly targeted intervention services working with people where things are going wrong, through to providing fun activities," Simmonds says.
"Is it vital to provide a frisbee course in the park? As fun as it might be, that would be less vital than targeted intervention."
Target versus universal split
Therefore, it is perhaps unsurprising that the findings show a marked shift in favour of targeted youth services, with councils now spending more on targeted provision than on universal services.
In 2011/12, councils spent £50.5m more on universal services than on targeted provision. But by 2013/14, that pattern had reversed with authorities spending £18m more on targeted than universal services. And when asked to project what the split will be in the future, three-quarters of survey respondents predicted that between 75 and 100 per cent of their spend will be on targeted provision within three years' time.
Joanne Birch-Phaure, a spokesperson for UK Youth and Ambition, is concerned by the shift, but says youth clubs have been reporting it for some time.
"While it is essential to provide appropriate services for the most vulnerable, only prioritising funding for those already in crisis means that crucial preventative work is being overlooked, resulting in increased longer-term costs for society," she says.
"All young people deserve access to high-quality youth services that act as a springboard for their lives and not just those providing a safety net.
"Open access removes the stigma so often associated with targeted services and offers a safe environment for all young people to grow with positive, professional relationships."
Blacke agrees that the move towards targeted services, while understandable, is disappointing.
"With budgets being ever tightened, vulnerable young people have to be a priority over those who are not," she says.
"Yet for young people just below the radar of social services or criminal justice, services which are open to all can provide the support that sets them on a positive course, preventing the need for much costlier intervention later on.
"Remove the safety net and more young people will need support down the line, which will cost more in the long run."
Dominic Weinberg, policy manager at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), expects the trend to continue and says councils need to work with voluntary organisations to ensure the universal offer does not disappear completely.
"We support measures that ensure that limited spending reaches those young people who can most benefit from such funding," he says.
"But we want to see investment in services that act early, invest in young people's potential and save money further down the line."
He added: "Local authorities must find ways to work with the voluntary and community sector providers of such services to ensure their provision expands." Future direction
For Wright, the findings highlight why the government needs to step up its monitoring of the decisions taken by councils on the shape of local youth services.
As part of this, he wants the Cabinet Office to "challenge local authorities where there are concerns about the level of the youth offer".
He adds: "There's an opportunity to remind local authorities that there is a statutory duty and for the Cabinet Office, on behalf of central government and young people, to ask them to take that duty seriously.
"We also have to look at the quality of the work that's being delivered that's left and what we want to be able to do is not just safeguard what there is, but make sure it is of good quality – I think that the government has to take the lead on that."
His call has been backed by Blacke, who says councils need to be supported to deal with the financial challenges.
"Local authorities are being asked to make impossible decisions about funding. But from our knowledge, many are responding by transforming their youth services – focusing on new partnerships, assessing the impact of their services and involving young people in analysing outcomes," she explains.
"These figures may raise concerns, but we need to use them to support innovation and change at a local level, not undermine youth services further."
Meanwhile, NCVYS's Weinberg says the Cabinet Office needs to support collaborative work in order for youth services to survive.
"We recognise that in a challenging climate, this is an opportunity to reshape how youth services are funded, commissioned and delivered," he says.
"But we need a suitable division of responsibility between all players - policy makers, employers, funders, service deliverers, businesses, whether public, private or voluntary - to ensure that all young people thrive and reach their full potential."
The Cabinet Office is yet to comment on its plans for the future of youth services, but a spokesperson says it is keen for councils to work innovatively and develop new ways of working in light of reduced funding.
YOUTH SERVICE EXPENDITURE IN ENGLAND – Download a PDF of the data
