Youth service mutual to be governed by young people

Knowsley, in Merseyside, is only the second council youth service in the country to be spun off as a mutual but the first to involve young people in this way.

Sandra Richardson, who played an instrumental role in splitting off the youth service from local authority control, said ownership of the mutual is distributed equally between staff and young people, who sign up to become members of Knowsley Youth Mutual (KYM).

The design of the mutual, which launched at the beginning of April, will give young people in Knowsley the opportunity to shape the region’s service provision.

It will be governed by an executive board composed of both young people and adults with experience in areas such as financial management and commercial development.

In addition, a representative board, made up of eight staff and eight young people, will sit between the executive board and the members.

Richardson said a youth-led approach is key to ensuring that the social enterprise delivers the services that are needed the most.

She said: “The unique thing about KYM is the way it is governed and structured. The youth mutual won’t be making any decisions without the influence of young people.

“For us, having a mutual that’s 50/50 was really important because at the end of the day they are our service users and we want them to shape the organisation as it grows and develops – and we’re going to be very clear about that.

“The main hope is we can consolidate and deliver well, but the aspiration is to grow and develop more services for the young people of Knowsley.”

Richardson added: “The most exciting thing about KYM is its governance structure. It’s very democratic and youth-led – almost like we want young people to co-produce what we do.”

KYM is the second department to become a social enterprise, following in the footsteps of Kensington and Chelsea youth service, which launched as Epic CIC, a staff-led mutual, in January.