Plan to protect youth worker title

The new job title will be put to all members of the Confederation of Heads of Young People's Services (Chyps) in the next fortnight, with the intention of boosting the status of fully qualified youth workers.

David Wright, chief executive of Chyps, told CYP Now: "There are a huge number of people working in young people's services. To the outside world, 'youth worker' is a generic term. But within the sector there is a variety of different disciplines and this is about focusing on and valuing the qualified youth worker."

The title would apply to any full-time youth worker who holds a qualification recognised by the Joint Negotiating Committee.

Even though the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) is testing a Youth Professional Status, Wright said there is still a need to distinguish the role of qualified youth worker, as the CWDC scheme is open to all graduates working with young people.

But Darren Irvine, youth volunteer adviser at national charity Changemakers, said the title could undermine the role of voluntary youth workers.

"There are loads of voluntary youth workers who do not have any qualifications and are probably better than many statutory youth workers who have all the JNC qualifications," he said.

"This proposal suggests that because a youth worker has this title they will be better than one who hasn't got it, which is not necessarily true."