General election 2019: Youth work
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
LABOUR
- Increase the voice of young people in decision making about local youth services
- Create a National Youth Service
- Develop Local Youth Partnerships (LYP) that bring together all people and agencies with a stake in youth provision
- Create a Youth Service Fund to provide funding so all young people have access to universal services and which LYPs will submit local plans to and access funding through
- Appoint a minister for children and young people at the Department for Education
- Publish a National Strategy for Youth Work
- Make local authorities statutorily responsible for youth services and facilitating LYPs
- Reinstate a national audit of council youth work provision
- Develop a national youth workforce development strategy to recruit, train and sustain youth workers with national standards, qualifications, skills and professional development and collective pay bargaining
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
- Invest £500m in ringfenced youth services and training for youth workers
- Provide training for youth workers in the public health approach
CONSERVATIVES
- The Youth Worker Bursary Fund has been set up to target low-income students to ensure they can access the Level 2 certificate and Level 3 diploma in youth work practice qualifications.
- The fund, set up by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, aims to support the training of 400 students.
- Invest £500m over five years in projects and facilities through the Youth Investment Fund, and a further £40m fund to support projects tackling youth violence
COMMENTARY
Analysis by Labour suggests councils spending on youth services has fallen by £1bn in real terms over the past decade as a result of local government funding cuts. This has resulted in the closure of 750 youth centres and the loss of 14,500 youth and community worker jobs.
Youth services is core Labour territory, and the party published a detailed strategy on its plans to reinvest in youth services if elected, although it hasn’t put a figure on how much extra funding would be forthcoming. In addition to investing in youth services policy, practice and facilities, Labour also pledges to return youth work to the Department for Education from its current home in the Office for Civil Society.
The Conservatives and Lib Dems have also pledged additional resources, with both linking this investment to tackling high levels of youth violence.
Youth organisations have welcomed the recent increased policy and funding focus on the sector. The National Youth Agency (NYA) recently published its High-5 manifesto which sets out a five-point plan calling for action to secure longer-term investment in youth services, as well as the creation of local youth partnerships to improve uptake of services among young people and identify gaps in provision.
The NYA also says it wants the government to establish a youth covenant as a commitment to include young people in decision-making and to help shape policies and inform services. Under its youth work guarantee, the NYA is calling for at least two qualified youth workers and a team of youth support workers and trained volunteers for each secondary school catchment area.