Youth Service and Connexions.

Working Together - Connexions and the Statutory Youth Service

Introduction

The DfES published in December a paper Working Together - Connexions and the Statutory Youth Service, which outlines the expectations and involvement of the Youth Service in the developing Connexions Strategy.

The Youth Service's approach to social and informal education with young people is seen as important and is reinforced by the paper as crucial to the development of the Connexions Service. Youth workers' ability to deliver prevention interventions with young people is acknowledged, with the approaches used by youth workers seen as credible, supportive and non-authoritarian by young people. The paper states the priority age for youth work should be 13-19 but may extend to 11-25 in some cases.

The government's vision for the Youth Service is a service which young people want to use, focusing on their personal social education, their voice and influence, as well as their inclusion and engagement in society.

Relationship of Connexions Service and the Youth Service

The relationship between the Connexions Service and the Youth Service is seen as fundamental to the success of Connexions and in making a real difference to young people's lives. Youth Services are already engaged in a range of joint multi-agency working arrangements. Working with Connexions is expected to enhance existing relationships and will provide a link into other services for young people, which will support and enhance the work of the Youth Service.

The Youth Service will make a vital contribution to Connexions in the following key areas:

· Identifying young people at risk, including the most vulnerable and disaffected;

· Youth workers acting as personal advisers as appropriate;

· Use of specialist knowledge, expertise and experience often working with the hardest to reach young people;

· Providing a safe, trusted and informal environment for young people, in which to deliver integrated services;

· Providing information on young people's needs to inform planning;

· Providing an environment for developing social skills;

· Establishing community based work, which is culturally relevant, encouraging the involvement of hard to reach, black and ethnic groups.

How will Youth Services be part of Connexions?

The Youth Service brings expertise and wide ranging networks to the Connexions Partnership. The contribution will include delivering the personal adviser role where appropriate, alongside high quality youth work designed to support the personal and social development of young people. Involvement in the partnership will allow youth workers to work with young people who hitherto have not traditionally used the service.

It is expected the Youth Service will:

· Ensure all youth work with 13-19s is integral to the Connexions Service;

· Work closely with Connexions Partnerships and Local Management Committees to bring about synergy and coherence between Youth Service plans and 13-19 youth work;

· Promote Connexions programmes including summer activities;

· Identify resources for providing a youth work support role to Connexions so all Youth Service provision is an integral part of the Connexions Service delivery;

· Enable youth workers to undertake the personal adviser role where appropriate;

· Support and co-ordinate the involvement of young people in the Connexions Service;

· Establish effective management and working practices to provide an interface with the Connexions Service;

· Use Connexions branding as appropriate;

· Acknowledge that OFSTED will continue to inspect youth work.

The Connexions Service will build on the existing good practice and be expected to provide funds to add value for youth work. The planning of Connexions activity will include how youth work supports key objectives and the management arrangements for delivery. The Connexions Service will seek to appoint senior managerial staff with youth work background and ensure the Youth Service is directly represented on the Partnership Board. In addition, the Connexions Service will provide training for youth workers to act as personal advisers, where appropriate, and ensure that at least a third of PAs have youth work skills supported by a recognised youth work qualification.

Underpinning principles of the Connexions Service and Youth Service relationship

A number of pre-conditions are stated:

1. In all cases, youth work practice is to continue with Youth Services concentrating not less than 80% of available resource on the 13-19s;

2. OFSTED will continue to inspect youth work for the foreseeable future;

3. All 13-19 youth work resources are to be planned, managed and delivered as part of a joint working agreement between the Youth Service and the Connexions Partnership;

4. The Youth Service should continue to support the democratic and participative models for involving young people and provide a lead in local authorities;

5. Elected Members have an important local role and are welcome to join partnership boards and be represented on Local Management Committees;

6. Significant numbers of youth workers are expected to be operating as Personal Advisers.

Annexes

The first annex outlines three emerging models being developed to support the Youth Services involvement in Connexions. These are: a contract model; a merged service model and a hybrid model, with some youth service resources being passported to the Connexions Partnership. The increase of joint operation between local authority Youth Services is also to be considered.

The second annex highlights four alternative models of working which should be adapted for Youth Services:

1. Youth workers are Connexions personal advisers based in their existing professional context;

2. Youth workers become personal advisers in multi-agency Connexions Teams;

3. Personal advisers are placed by the Connexions Service into existing youth service settings;

4. Youth Workers deliver specialist support alongside Connexions personal advisers.

The third annex states the Youth Service should be directly represented on the Partnership Board by one of the Principal Youth Officers and the LEA Head of Youth Service be a member of the Local Management Committee.

Malcolm Rittman

County Youth Officer

Hampshire