NYA manifesto calls for wide-reaching investment in youth services

The professional body for youth work in England launches its High-5 manifesto to coincide with the start of Youth Work Week.

It sets out a five-point plan calling for action to secure longer-term investment in youth services as well as the creation of local youth partnerships to improve uptake of services among young people and identify gaps in provision.

The NYA said it also wanted the government to establish a youth covenant as a commitment to include young people in decision-making and to help shape policies and inform services.

This would be supported by a minister and cabinet committee that would have responsibility in government, it said.

Under its youth work guarantee, the NYA is calling for at least two qualified youth workers and a team of youth support workers and trained volunteers for each secondary school catchment area.

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"This provides the basis for guaranteed access to quality youth work, facilities, staffing ratios, training and employment to open up career pathways and volunteering opportunities across a diverse range of providers for an eco-system of community-based youth work to flourish," the manifesto states.

It also calls for a "national census" of current provision, both statutory and voluntary, to establish a "clear baseline" of youth work provision and to put in place core funding for local youth services.

"There is a critical need to invest in youth centres, clubs and safe spaces for young people to go in their local community. Yet to run that provision and extend the reach to all young people - from detached youth work to facilitating youth councils - requires skilled youth workers.

"Just as local authorities are accountable to secure sufficient school places in their area, they need to be resourced to ensure access to quality youth services," the manifesto adds.

Leigh Middleton, NYA's chief executive said "critical funding" for youth services was urgently needed rather than a "one-off fix" which would not be sustained in the long term.

Middleton said that investment in youth services would require the mobilisation of thousands of qualified youth workers and trained volunteers as well as new and refurbished youth centres.

"Through the collective efforts of the youth sector and strength of voice of young people, the main political parties have committed to invest in youth work. 

 "This means a guarantee for youth work jobs, regional investment and local youth partnerships, and young people's inclusion in decision-making to reflect their experiences, needs and ambitions," he said.

The NYA launched a national roadshow of events to support a government review of statutory guidance for council youth services that began on 3 October.

More than 80 youth sector leaders, councils and voluntary organisations as well as young people from across the country attended a National Youth Work Summit held on 29 October in parliament, which included feedback from the roadshows.

At the same event the NYA launched a sector consultation on youth work sufficiency to run alongside the government review.

It said it expected future government guidance to recognise a final "Sufficiency Statement" due to be published in the new year.

Middleton, who hosted the summit, said it brought together key partners and politicians as the basis of a long-term strategy for youth services.

"We gained cross-party support and the main political parties committed to invest in youth work. 

"Whoever now forms the next government must turn their manifesto promises into a guarantee of access to quality youth work for young people in their communities," he said.