Young people urged to push for greater investment in youth services
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Young people are being encouraged to write to the Prime Minister calling for greater investment in youth work.
The Youth Ask campaign describes the offer for youth services made in October’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) as “extremely poor”.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced £560m for youth services including £173m ring fenced for the National Citizen Service.
Sunak said the remaining funds would be distributed as part of the Youth Investment Fund (YIF) which was first announced in the Conservative Party’s 2019 general election manifesto.
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However, the Youth Ask Campaign has pointed out that the £387m allocated for youth services to be spent over three years is below the £500m initially pledged for the YIF.
Sunak added that 95 per cent of the fund would be spent on building new youth centres or refurbishing old ones.
“This leaves under £20m for elements that were promised two years ago, including high-quality services, workforce development and infrastructure support. That’s just over £6m per year, for the whole country,” the Youth Ask website states.
Citing research by the National Youth Agency and YMCA which found that youth service funding has been cut by £1bn over the last decade, it adds: “The reality is that under-investment in youth services is strangling the life out of amazing, life-changing services and government needs to take responsibility.”
Campaign leaders are urging young people to write to Boris Johnson and their local MP in a letter entitled “why I need a youth worker” detailing the added need for youth services in their area following the Covid-19 pandemic.
It has also put forward a series of recommendations for government which include increasing investment in the youth sector to at least £1.2bn per year, spending 90 per cent of the YIF on employing qualified youth workers and the introduction of legislation and guidance that “defines a minimum and protected level of youth services”.
Youth Ask is also calling on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to publish the results of a consultation on the use of the YIF launched in February.
DCMS has been contacted for comment.
Young people are invited to use a template letter published on the campaign’s website and share their support on social media using the hashtags #WhyINeedAYouthWorker and #YouthInvestmentFund