Editorial: Friday and Saturday working is a must

While many areas do offer some youth activities on Friday nights and Saturdays, this isn't the case everywhere. For too many young people, there are simply little or no organised activities taking place at weekends, especially in the evenings.

Very few youth workers would argue against the need to provide more activities at these times. Not only will working on Friday nights and Saturdays provide youth workers with an opportunity to make a difference to even more young people's lives, but it will potentially provide a more visible way for youth professionals to show their worth to the wider community.

But quite how an already pressured workforce will deliver on this vision is a question that needs addressing urgently. The additional £25,000 the government will give to each of the 77 local authorities considered a priority for setting up weekend projects will hopefully go some way towards paying for the additional workers. But a longer-term vision is required to ensure such projects are sustainable over the years to come.

Much will rest on what is contained within the eagerly awaited Children's Workforce Strategy. The document needs to find ways of making working with young people an attractive option for school-leavers and graduates. It will also need to tackle ongoing issues such as a lack of recognition for the role played by youth workers and address the different pay levels that exist across the children's workforce. Only then will some of the reluctance expressed by frontline practitioners to working ever more antisocial hours be overcome.

Andy Hillier, editor, Youth Work Now, andy.hillier@haymarket.com.