The service, which provides careers guidance and youth services to young people aged 13- to 19-years-old, is dealing with a vast reduction in its role as cuts by local councils have seen its budget slashed by 33 per cent.
The saving of £1.78m includes cuts of £650,000 from West Cheshire Council, £600,000 from East Cheshire Council and £530,000 from Warrington Borough Council. In addition to redundancies and pay cuts, a number of "Youth Centre Hubs" face closure while high street Connexions centres will no longer be open on Saturdays.
Public service union Unison, which represents Connexions workers, has described the cuts as "madness".
"This is a clear example of a failure of joined-up government," said Ray McHale, Unison’s assistant branch secretary in West Cheshire. "Cheshire West is spending £500,000 on introducing a new Community Warden Service to stop antisocial behaviour, and now cutting funding to the organisation that runs youth clubs and works with young people to try to prevent antisocial behaviour. MPs and councillors really need to look at what is happening here."
McHale added that Connexions personal advisers carry out valuable work with young people who have a range of problems, including drug and alcohol use, mental health problems, parental abuse, homelessness and criminal convictions.
A survey by CYP Now last month showed that 75 per cent of Connexions services are currently being forced to make redundancies. Many have raised concerns that the 24 per cent reduction made by the Department for Education to its area-based grant, from which Connexions is largely funded, is being passed directly to frontline services.
