Analysis: Policy - Youth opportunity card - Outcomes of youthcard's collapse

As recently as January, youth minister Beverley Hughes in reply to a parliamentary question expressed confidence in the "good progress" being made to set up the youth opportunity card pilots.

Just weeks later, as revealed by Young People Now, the Government has decided to shelve the scheme, admitting it was not feasible (YPN, 28 February6 March, p2). In view of the reports of the technological difficulties over the past year that have prevented the pilot from getting off the ground, many in the sector will be tempted to say, "Told you so".

In the 10 local authorities that were to pilot the card, there is disappointment. Others are relieved the decision was made before millions of pounds were wasted. So what went wrong?

Post-mortem

Accounts from the pilot authorities reveal that the key stumbling block in the card's development was a decision by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to pilot a single nationwide card developed from scratch rather than build on various versions of smart card technology being developed.

Paul Dagnall, who had strategic responsibility for the card pilot in Liverpool City Council, says: "The initial specification was about building on what was already there. Then they said: 'We want one card across the 10 authorities.' But with the budget we have and the technology only being at a certain level, it was difficult to have a consistent pilot."

Malcolm Ryan, youth service manager for Lincolnshire, another of the pilot authorities, says the plan was "riddled with difficulties" as it could theoretically have enabled a young person to walk into a cinema and use the card to buy a bucket of popcorn.

Ryan says he and his colleagues were far keener on the concept of a smart card that accumulates points for young people as a reward for achievements, which could then be exchanged for positive activities. Such technology is already in use in some schools across Lincolnshire.

"The council's original bid to the DfES for the pilot was on the basis of extending the county's existing smart card technology," says Ryan. "We thought with the extra money we received for piloting the card, we could extend the technology to other schools and youth centres across the county. Then the consultants got involved."

Six-week countdown

Beverley Hughes now has six weeks to draw up ideas for other ways in which the 27m card pilot investment can facilitate demand-led access to positive activities for young people. Representatives from the 10 pilot authorities started this debate holed up in a two-day summit last Wednesday and Thursday at the Sheffield office of the DfES.

Ryan says there is potential to combine locally managed smart cards with youth support teams, which could use them to engage young people in positive activities.

Jeremy Glover, chief executive of Bolton Lads and Girls Club, which has 3,000 members drawn from another pilot area, says: "The Government needs to take this money and take the five poorest areas they can find to build something for young people. These cards would never have achieved what they set out to do. It was always a crap idea."

Another organisation pleased about the decision to scrap the card is the British Youth Council, which had already dismissed the idea as a patronising gimmick after it conducted a survey of its members. Volunteer press and policy intern Jenny Commin, 21, says: "We would instead call for properly funded youth services, which could include discounts for cultural and leisure facilities." Others have backed The National Youth Agency's call for the money to go to more Youth Opportunity Fund projects.

For Leon Mexter, chief executive of the North East Regional Youth Work Unit, which covers the pilot areas of Sunderland and Durham, the biggest letdown in the development of the card was the decision not to use it to subsidise transport. Mexter's organisation is keen to work with a local smart card consortium to develop a transport concession scheme for young people. A group of young people from the North East plans to travel to Scotland to learn more about the Young Scot card, a multi-purpose card that will evolve this year into a national entitlement card offering subsidised travel across the country.

"What's hard to fathom is when we have such a successful card scheme for young people in Scotland, why can't that be applied to the opportunity card?" asks Mexter. "Positive activities is a wonderful idea, but it has to be linked to access."

Until fresh proposals are drawn up, the pilot areas at least can fall back on their locally developed schemes. For example, Liverpool will launch its 08 card offering discounts on cultural activities in the run up to the city becoming European Capital of Culture next year.

But the lack of a consistent national framework, combined with the compromised coffers of local authorities, casts a question mark over any future scheme. Mexter warns that the Government has a lot to do to win over people about future proposals if it is to overcome the disillusionment of previous efforts.

THE HYPOTHESIS

- The youth opportunity card pilot was designed to test whether giving spending power through money and discounts might encourage those 13-to-19-year-olds who do not engage in constructive activities to do so

- The Government hoped this would also make providers of leisure activities become more responsive to young people's needs

- The pilots were to offer monthly top-ups of either 12 or 25 to target groups, a benefit that could be suspended for young people who took part in antisocial behaviour.