Youth work bursaries dwarfed by scale of cuts, says charity
Joanne Parkes
Monday, July 29, 2019
Government moves to boost funding for youth work have been cautiously welcomed by the sector which has raised concerns that it does not go far enough against a backdrop of massive cuts.
Youth work bursaries worth £500,000 for 400 students were announced by outgoing youth minister Mims Davies, during a recent parliamentary speech on the sufficiency of youth services.
Davies also highlighted the recently signed Youth Charter, intended to strengthen and co-ordinate national policy and three initiatives for improving youth voice, announced in last year's Civil Society Strategy.
However, as local authority youth service budgets are estimated to have been slashed by £387m between 2010 and 2016, resulting in 3,652 youth work jobs lost and 603 youth centres closed since 2012, charity London Youth is concerned the "big questions" are being left unanswered.
London Youth chief executive Rosemary Watt-Wyness said following the debate: "I welcome the government's commitment to expand the training routes and qualifications open to youth work professionals.
"Young people have ultimately borne the brunt of the sustained devaluing of youth work and professionals who deliver challenging but vital work against the backdrop of public sector cuts.
"However, the 400 new national bursaries will not even replace the 800 youth work positions that have disappeared in London alone over the last decade.
"The big questions facing the youth sector have not been answered.
"I implore the new Prime Minister and his government to make this and young people their priority."
During the debate, Labour MP Cat Smith called youth work "the first public service to have been dismantled."
Her party colleague Ellie Reeves MP paid tribute to the vital work of "chronically underfunded" London Youth member Youth First.
Reeves said: "Youth First provides fantastic youth services across Lewisham, and it was instrumental in bringing the community together when 15-year-old Jay Hughes was murdered last November.
"However, it is chronically underfunded owing to cuts to our local authority, so it cannot provide the detached youth workers that the minister just mentioned.
"Does she agree that we must invest in youth services, so that they can play that vital role in tackling youth violence and supporting our communities?"
A recent all-party parliamentary group on knife crime showed councils cut their youth services spending on average by 40 per cent over the past three years, and at the same time there was a 68 per cent increase in knife offences recorded by the police in England and Wales.
Since last week's debate, Davies has been appointed a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's reshuffle.
At time of publication a new youth minister has yet to be announced.
Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has been appointed Culture Secretary and will oversee the new minister.
