Feature: Positive activities: Spending power

Seventeen-year-old Lauren Williams from Lincolnshire has always wanted to pursue a career in performing arts but has been unable to afford to attend regular dance classes.

But thanks to the Empowering Young People pilot scheme run by her local council, Lauren, who is entitled to free school meals, now receives £40 a month to spend on positive activities of her choice. "I go twice a week and do modern dance," she says. "I've wanted to do it for a long time."

The Empowering Young People pilot scheme has emerged from the ashes of the scrapped youth opportunity card. The card, which had been a standout proposal of the Youth Matters green paper in 2005, aimed to put "buying power directly in the hands of young people". But in the face of stiff opposition from within the youth sector over costs and concerns about the viability of the technology, the scheme was abandoned in February 2007.

The idea of making a range of activities more financially accessible to disadvantaged young people was not rejected, however. The Department for Children, Schools and Families has funded nine pilots in local authority areas across England at a cost of £14.5m.

The pilots use different methods to give spending power to two distinct groups of excluded 13- to 17-year-olds - those eligible for free school meals and looked-after young people. Start dates ranged from October 2007 to April 2008, but all are due to end in March 2009.

In Cambridgeshire, the pilot has closely resembled the original concept of a youth opportunity card. The scheme has been branded g2g, text speak for "Got to Go", and is a pre-paid, chip and PIN debit card that works in the same way as any other Mastercard.

It works anywhere in the country and leisure providers do not need to sign up to the scheme; they simply use their existing card technology. A private bank in London deals with card issues, the payment process and fraud protection.

The one major difference to conventional debit cards is that there are restrictions on its use. "We tell Mastercard where we want the card to work and where we don't," says Simon Bates, a project worker in the children's services department of Cambridgeshire County Council, who manages the pilot.

"Turn up at the swimming pool, cinema or driving school and the payment goes through, but go to the pub and the payment is declined," he says.

There are around 2,000 young people in the county eligible for the card and the council maximised take-up by registering everyone unless their parents or carers objected. Very few opted out.

The cards were not sent to the young people by post but were given to them by youth workers, Connexions workers, social workers or youth offending workers. "Only a frontline member of staff can activate a card," explains Bates. "The young person sits down with the worker and they explain how the card works, what they can do with it and they plan for certain activities."

Freedom to choose

Beyond that initial dialogue and restrictions on the card's use for gambling or alcohol, the young participants in the pilot have considerable autonomy as to how they spend the £40 a month they are given. Popular activities include going to the swimming pool, bowling, and visiting the cinema or leisure centre.

"This is the central point of the scheme," says Bates. "It's about giving young people choice in their leisure provision. It's not about necessarily promoting wholesome activities, but about ensuring that there is equality of access to activities within the leisure market."

The council has not undertaken a formal evaluation of the pilot but, according to Bates, feedback from young people indicates they are feeling more included with their friends.

In Lincolnshire, the Empowering Young People pilot has embraced a more active method of engaging with participants. The council's children's services department identified just over 2,500 young people in the county who were eligible for the pilot.

Each young person was asked to identify an adult, known as a key worker, who they felt comfortable talking to. The volunteer key workers are often professionals such as youth workers or teachers, although Scout leaders have also been chosen.

The young people discuss with their key worker what kind of activities they are interested in. The key worker talks through practicalities and makes suggestions. The key worker may accompany the young person to the activity if they are nervous going on their own.

Malcolm Ryan, children's services team manager for teenage services at Lincolnshire County Council, says: "Many of the young people we are coming into contact with are very disadvantaged. They feel quite alienated about engaging in activities, maybe because of the people who are there, or because they don't know anyone there."

The key worker speaks to both the young person and the activity provider to make sure the activity goes smoothly. "This is not the kind of engagement you would get with a card," says Ryan.

Once the young person and key worker have decided on their chosen activity, the young person fills in a form and sends it to a special department at the council. The activity is booked on their behalf and the provider is paid.

More than 400 providers are registered and activities include music tuition, dance, go-karting and art classes. Young people in rural areas have £40 a month to spend, while others have £25.

Lauren Williams did not think twice about signing up. "At the end of the day, you are getting £40 a month to do something that is going to benefit you," she says.

Kevin Jones, chair of the Federation for Detached Youth Work, sees nothing wrong with initiatives that promote positive activities for young people, as long as they are not mistaken for youth work. "There isn't much challenge or exploration as far as I'm aware," he says. "If you are asking young people what they want to do and then providing the cash, you are giving them a wish list."

He also questions whether spending £14.5m on the pilots is a good use of funding. "If you are taking resources away from informal education and youth work, then I do have concerns," he says.

Then there's the problem that all the pilot local authorities will have to grapple with in three months' time - what to do when the pilots end. "If you've been given a new toy and it's taken away, it's often worse than not being given one in the first place," says Jones.

Lincolnshire County Council is currently designing an exit strategy that will refer its young participants onto other initiatives such as the youth opportunity fund or an extended school. The council also hopes to retain a role for the 470 volunteer key workers it has recruited.

In Cambridgeshire, Bates admits that the scheme may be hard to continue in the current economic downturn. But he would like to see it survive, even if the spending money given to young people has to be cut dramatically. "We should always remember that the living circumstances of the most disadvantaged in society become even more disadvantaged during a recession," he says.

CASE STUDY - CAMBRIDGESHIRE'S g2g CARD

Sam Cliffe is 16 and studying performing arts at the College of West Anglia in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. She lives with her mum and sister and qualifies for the g2g card because she receives free school meals. Sam was one of 12 young people who helped to design the card. She says having the card makes her feel more mature.

"Your 16-plus worker, or the person that applied for it for you will get it, and then you activate it and use it as a normal credit card," she says. "If you go skating or bowling or whatever you want to do, you put it in the card machine, put your PIN in and it takes your money out. You have £40 a month."

Sam has used her card to attend a street dance club, but she has rationed her spending. "I've got around £400 on my card so I'm going to pay for my driving lessons in one go," she says.

She has also noticed a difference in her younger sister. "She used to be bullied for not being able to go out, but now she can go out with her friends when she wants."