Protect the youth opportunity fund
Andy Hillier
Monday, June 14, 2010
As CYP Now predicted last week, the Department for Education has removed the ringfence around the remaining 40.8m of the youth opportunity fund. The ringfence guaranteed that money went to local grant-making youth panels to spend on projects requested by local young people.
Now the remaining money left in the pot for the youth opportunity fund will go to local authorities to decide how it is spent. Money that was previously guaranteed to be spent by young people on young people will be left to the vagaries of local politics and council priorities. Better-funded local authorities that are committed to youth participation will no doubt let young people retain full control over the money. But those that are struggling to fund other vital aspects of their work will be tempted to siphon off at least some of the money to pay for other activities.
An argument could be made in favour of young people losing control over at least part of this cash. The youth opportunity fund has always been heralded as a landmark piece of youth participation, so perhaps it is only fair that young people aren't sheltered from the wider funding difficulties the country is experiencing. Should we not provide young people with a valuable lesson in having to settle for less in lean times?
That argument misses the point. The youth opportunity fund and its sister grant stream the youth capital fund, which allows young people to apply for money to buy equipment or improve youth facilities, were intended to be the starting point and not the pinnacle of giving young people the power to decide how money is spent on them. While the £220m allocated to be spent on the funds from 2008 to 2011 is a sizable sum, this still represents just over a fifth of the Labour government's proposed youth spending over this period.
The Aiming High for Young People document published in 2007 included the commitment to have 25 per cent of all spending on youth activities and facilities decided by young people by 2018. The youth opportunity and capital funds were test beds to prove this would be possible.
Local authorities need to resist the temptation to use youth opportunity fund money to pay for other things. Young people should have a greater, not smaller, say in deciding how money is spent on them. It is the best way to ensure they get the activities and facilities that truly meet their needs.
Andy Hillier, deputy editor, Children & Young People Now
