The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is creating an integrated youth support leadership team, which will comprise senior managers from the council's community and young people's division, including the youth offending team, the pupil referral service, the adolescent resources team, and Richmond Youth Service.
The council is creating a new post, Connexions and commissioning manager, and is recruiting for a new principal youth officer, both of which will be represented on the team. Richmond has not had a principal youth officer since Alison Hopgood retired in February this year. Senior posts were subsequently frozen until the council agreed the new structure, which will come into force next January. Connexions in Richmond is delivered by Connexions South London but the borough hopes to transfer the Richmond manager to local authority employment so they can sit within the new team.
Philip Lomax, assistant director for education and children's services at the London borough, said: "The structure we are putting in place will help us plan together the way forward for the new youth support offer."
The Youth Matters: Next Steps green paper says the Government will issue more detailed guidance on the development of local integrated targeted support following the conclusion of a review into barriers to collaboration in delivering services to young people at risk next April.
www.richmond.gov.uk.
