Only government can stop the dismantling of youth services

The prevailing narrative for some time in youth services has been one of provision, staff and budgets being cut. The reason why appears straightforward: after all, no council service is immune to the reduction in public sector spending. But other findings from the long-awaited Cabinet Office survey – the department collected the information at the end of 2013 - give a deeper insight into the current plight of youth services and suggest things are not going to get better any time soon.

With money being tight, it is inevitable that funds are increasingly being targeted at the most vulnerable young people at the expense of universal, open-access provision. Although the spending split between targeted and universal services remained largely unchanged between 2012/13 and 2013/14, three-quarters of survey respondents anticipate 75 to 100 per cent of their overall spend will be targeted by 2016.

The survey also reveals that one-third of respondents do not think youth work is highly valued locally, 32 per cent of those making funding decisions sit outside children's services and more than half fail to always refer to statutory guidance when making funding decisions.

Taken together, it is hard not to conclude that the model and ethos of youth services that has been in existence in local authorities for a generation is being dismantled. If the future plays out the way the survey respondents predict, then youth services will largely be something only young people with social problems are referred to and no longer seen as a mainstream part of the "local offer" for children and young people.

The best hope for avoiding this outcome is for the government to intervene, either by putting youth services on a statutory footing or ensuring councils always heed the existing statutory guidance to provide "sufficient activities and services" for young people when making funding decisions. By doing this, there would be few better ways for the new minster for civil society Brooks Newmark to give the youth sector a much-needed boost.

New Education Secretary faces uphill challenge

So, it is goodbye to Michael Gove, who after four eventful years of running the Department for Education was moved on to a new post at last week's Cabinet reshuffle. Love him or loathe him, Gove has left an indelible mark on the direction of the DfE, and many of his policies will continue to set the agenda in children's services for some time to come. His successor as Education Secretary Nicky Morgan will have to decide quickly whether she will chart her own path over the implementation of various education reforms or stick to the agenda Gove has already set out. With only nine months before the general election, and little in the way of previous experience to fall back on, the odds are stacked against Morgan making her mark on children's services.

derren.hayes@markallengroup.com