Devolution of powers needed to tackle youth unemployment crisis, says LGA

Powers over careers advice and youth training need to be devolved away from central government to schools, colleges and councils to effectively tackle unemployment among young people, according to the Local Government Association.

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The body that represents councils said that "Cobra-style action" is needed to save a "lost generation of young people" who are facing unemployment amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Careers advice, as well as post-16 and skills budgets, are among areas it wants to see local policy makers and education leaders have a greater say in.

Benefits of devolving powers include allowing councils, schools and local employers to work more effectively together to secure employment and training for young people, says the LGA.

The councils’ organisation says that the national employment and skills system is “increasingly centralised and ineffective” and leaving councils “hamstrung”.

In addition, the LGA wants to see a youth minister appointed to lead on government efforts to address youth unemployment

Official figures show there were 765,000 young people aged between 16 and 24 classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training) between April to June this year.

According to the LGA, “it is expected that these numbers will increase over the coming months, placing a further strain on council’ statutory responsibilities”.

We need to ensure that the next generation doesn’t become a lost ‘pandemic generation’

Read our full list of recommendations to Govt in our new report “Re-thinking youth participation for the present and next generation”#ReThinkLocal #CouncilsCan https://t.co/wsDa2hoRrt

— Local Government Association (@LGAcomms) October 6, 2020

The recommendations around devolving powers to address youth unemployment are published in the LGA report Re-thinking youth participation for the present and next generation: education to employment.

This also calls for government to localise funding for existing employment programmes, create a youth employment and skills taskforce within government and to share central government data around employment with local authorities.

Within two years the LGA wants to see councils and combined local authorities given powers and funding to design and commission local youth employment initiatives. Secondary schools also need ring-fenced careers support funding, it said.

The government’s Kickstart scheme, created in July in a bid to improve employment opportunities for young people by funding wages, should involve greater council input, says the report.

“We have yet to see the real impact of the Covid-19 crisis on young people. But the unemployment crisis that many of our young people now face has become even more starkly apparent,” said Kevin Bentley, LGA people’s and places board chair.

He added: “Local government is best placed to lead on this. Devolving careers advice, post-16 and skills budgets and powers to local areas, would allow councils, schools, colleges and employers to work together to improve provision for young people so that they can get on in life.”

Among those to back the LGA’s concerns around youth unemployment is the Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes.

“As we have seen from previous recessions, it is young people who suffer disproportionately in an economic down turn, and we need to make sure that we do everything in our power to make sure that this doesn’t happen again so that economic scarring does not last a lifetime,” he said.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.