Archived decisions

Contact: Malcolm Rittman, County Youth Officer, Tel: 01962 846370,

email: [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report summarises recent youth service developments and updates Members on current issues including: issues arising from the report An Evaluation of the Impact of Youth Work in England; Hampshire County Youth Council initiatives; an update on the elections and work of the UK youth parliament members; the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) agreement award for youth work pay and conditions.

1.2 The youth work matters covered in this report demonstrate the impact of youth work for young people and communities, how young people are raising issues through the County Youth Council and UK Youth Parliament and how the service is improving pay and grades for staff. The work identified in this report supports the corporate strategic aims of the County Council of maximising life opportunities, building safe and strong communities and improving services and the Cabinet Priority for youth.

2 An evaluation of the Impact of Youth work in England

2.1 The Department for Education and Skills commissioned the youth affairs Unit at De Montfort University to evaluate the impact of youth work in England. The report `An Evaluation of the Impact of Youth Work in England' is the outcome of the research. A summary version is attached at appendix 1. The University reviewed and analysed 50 Local Authority youth services followed by an in depth analysis of fifteen services.

2.2 The report confirms the core purpose of youth work as the personal and social development of young people and increasingly contributing to social inclusion.

2.3 Outcomes and impact:

.1 The report reaffirms the key approach of youth workers as they engage with young people by building relationships of trust and mutual respect. Their principal roles are those of social educator, guide and mentor. They offer learning, support and challenge to young people, and encourage them to make informed decisions. At the same time, they advocate on young people's behalf when necessary with other services, groups and agencies. In this way youth workers can perform complementary roles to many Personal Advisers in the Connexions Service. However, youth workers have a distinctive educational purpose and work with young people as members of groups and communities. Through the empirical analysis, the report explores in detail the characteristics of the youth work role in fostering young people's personal and social development and through this, its contribution to building social capital.

.2 The factors limiting impact are identified along with an in depth review of: variability and stability of funding; staffing capacity; use of resources and patterns of provision; active involvement of young people; leadership and management; partnerships.

2.4 Hampshire County Youth Service (HCYS) faces four recurring themes and issues emerge from the report:

2.5 In conclusion, the report shows youth work is well positioned to make a sustained impact through the simultaneous development of relationships that connect young people with their communities so they can strengthen them (social capital) and the development of their own personal and social skills (human capital).

3 Hampshire County Youth Council

3.1 At the end of October, two officers of Hampshire County Youth Council (HCYC) attended the National Youth Council Conference in Weston-Super-Mare including workshops on how to work with the media and fundraising skills.

3.2 The HCYC has been working hard over the past few months to re-structure its organisation with proposals taken to various organisations and County Council departments for consultation. The proposal is for the HCYC to be formed of two elected young people as representatives from each of the eleven districts, although input from other young people would still be highly encouraged.

3.3 Representatives will liaise with young people within their districts taking their views forward through appropriate forums, hold portfolios reflecting Hampshire County Council Cabinet Members and meet with their equivalent twice a year to review issues relating to young people.

3.4 The new representatives will work at a district level alongside the members of UK Youth Parliament (MYPs), the Care Action Team bursary holder and Connexions bursary holders to enable an inclusive approach and response from young people.

3.5 As part of the new arrangements meetings of HCYC will be held around the county to enable more young people to access it.

3.6 This proposal was accepted at the November HCYC meeting and members are now considering ways to improve the election process for the new members.

3.7 The other major event in HCYC's calendar is the annual residential which took place in Avon Tyrrell on November 5-7. Twenty five young people from across the county took part in various workshops including public speaking, team building and outdoor pursuits. A thoroughly good time was had by all, with one young man so motivated by the workers and the experience that he returned to school the next day after a long spell of truanting.

3.8 HCYC is considering their response to the Children Act consultation and planning annual general meeting.

4 UK Youth Parliament

4.1 Elections for the new Members of the Youth Parliament (MYPs) took place during November and December 2004 in many Hampshire's schools and youth projects. Twenty-three candidates stood for election compared to eighteen last year with over 15,500 ballot slips sent out to 13 schools, 1 college and at least one youth service project per district and an increase of 9,500 voters.

4.2 The successful candidates were announced early January with the new MYPs taking up their post on February 1st.

4.3 The work and achievements of the MYPs has included:

.1 the MYP for Winchester and Eastleigh receiving a 'Diana Memorial Award' for her contribution to citizenship

.2 2 MYPs attending a media debate in the House of Commons

.3 the MYPs for Basingstoke and Test Valley North are meeting the Members of Parliament, Sir George Young (Andover) and Andrew Hunter (Basingstoke).

5 Pay award and conditions of service

5.1 It has taken over eighteen months for the Joint Negotiation Committee (JNC) for youth and community workers to reach a national agreement on the pay settlement for for 2003/4. This was a difficult process, with the Community and Youth Workers Union (CYWU) formally in dispute with employers and some branches declaring strike action. CYWU members in Hampshire did not take strike action as they did not want to impair the good working relationship between youth service officers and CYWU. An agreement was finally made through the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service in December 2004.

5.2 There are two parts to the 2003/4 pay settlement:

.1 Employees will be assimilated to a new salary structure as from 1 November 2003, each employee being placed on a new four point scale within a 31 point single spine

.2 Re-grading and assessment of all existing posts against the new four point scales. This to be implemented by April 2005.

5.3 The Joint Negotiation Committee pay increase for the 2003/4 year will be staged and back-dated to November 2003. From November 2003 to the end of February 2004 the pay award is 2.85% rising to 3.3% (of the 2003 rate) from March 2004.

5.4 Employees will be transferred to the new four point scales with effect from November 2003. The process for doing this is based on principles established by JNC:

.1 no employee should suffer an immediate loss of salary when assimilating to the new ranges on 1 November 2003

.2 there will not be a reduction in the current salary maximum when undertaking the same range of duties

.3 employees should get to the minimum of a new 4 point scale no later than 1 September 2007.

5.5 The process of calculating which four point scale will be allocated to each member of staff has been completed. The Enterprise team and Payroll ensured back pay and salary increases were paid to employees in December.

5.6 Assimilating staff onto four point scales as of November 2003 results in a number of staff receiving an increment in April 2004 when they did not previously do so. It also requires some staff to receive multiple increments each April in order to achieve the bottom of their assigned four point scale by September 2007.

6. Summary

6.1 This report summarises recent youth work development and updates members on current issues in the youth service.

7. Impact Assessment

7.1 No adverse impact on race or equalities has been identified in the development of this report.

8. Personnel Implications

8.1 The youth service is working with personnel advisers and professional associations to implement the revised JNC national agreement. No implications are envisaged at this stage.

9. Financial Implications

9.1 It is estimated the revised JNC pay-award will cost £40,000.

10. Crime Prevention Issues

10.1 It has been demonstrated that good quality youth work reduces the likelihood of some young people from being involved in crime. The issue raised in this report support and improved the development of quality youth work.

11. Recommendations

That it be a RECOMMENDATION to the Executive Member for Education:

That the current developments in the Hampshire County Youth Service be welcomed and noted.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. The list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Appendix 1

An Evaluation of the Impact of youth work in England - summary

The Department for education and skills (DfES) commissioned the youth affairs unit at De Montfort University to research the impact of youth work in England. A summary report is attached - appendix 1. The key points and issues raised by the report are summarised below.

The report reinforces youth work's core purpose as the personal and social development of young people, provided through informal education and increasingly its contribution to social inclusion.

Local youth services are responding to broad policy developments of social cohesion, active citizenship, and the enhancement of learning and development opportunities for young people in different settings.

Outcomes for young people through youth work include: increased confidence, making new friends, learning new skills, making decisions for themselves and feeling more able to ask for help and information when needed, better understanding of people who are different from themselves, and the prospects of finding a job were improved through engagement in youth work activities

Factors contributing to positive impact:

Youth workers:

1. have a distinctive educational purpose and work with young people as members of groups and communities.

2. make a positive impact when: they are closely connected to local communities and services and can act as a bridge between young people, their families and services

3. avoid compartmentalising young people's needs

Youth work:

1. enables young people to make their own choices and to find solutions to their own problems

2. offers mediation and advocacy on behalf of and in the interests of young people

Sustained contact:

1. contributes to the impact, as ongoing contact over time can be a vital stabilising impact.

Factors limiting impact:

1. Youth workers having limited control over negative impact of family, friends and community

2. Some mainstream services limited impact which is illustrated by the relationship between youth work and schools. Despite positive benefits schools appear unwilling or unable to maximise youth work's potential

3. The management support and development of youth workers especially where there is a lack of investment in training and ongoing development

4. The short-term nature of funding as it inhibits impact by undermining stability and sustainability.

The influence of variability and stability in youth service funding: The report notes the variability in per capita expenditure and year-on-year variations. Notwithstanding arguments about efficiency, instable funding is likely to contribute to variations in the quality and quantity of provision

Staffing capacity: services reported serious difficulties in recruiting and deploying staff with sufficient skills, qualifications and experience. To overcome this many services are creating more substantive part-time youth work posts.

Use of resources and patterns of provision

Balancing the need for open access and targeting forms of youth work presents a continuing dilemma. Local determination leads to variation of services for some groups. The rationale for patterns of provision ins not always clear and often reflects historical or political pressures rather than identified contemporary needs.

Active involvement of young people

Local youth services have established a variety of measures that encourage and support the active involvement of young people in influencing youth work and other services for young people. Participation in the running of facilities is central to practice, where young people learn about citizenship by practicing it.

Leadership and management of services

Some local services are struggling to combine the strategic and operational functions of leadership and management. Leadership and management of a modern youth service requires managers to be prepared for change, complexity and uncertainty.

Partnerships

Local youth services are engaged in strategic partnerships. There is considerable variation in the quality of partnerships with local youth services and Connexions. Where they are close and confident, youth work is adding value. Other partnerships include health services - particularly working on the teenage pregnancy strategy and involvement in Drugs and Alcohol Advisory Teams.

Recurring themes

Four recurring themes emerged as key issues facing local youth services:

1. The balance between universal or open access and targeted work: There is evidence that local authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between open access and targeted work within finite resources. The report argues these different forms of provision are mutually supportive and there are clear dangers in allowing open access work to decline

2. Processes for identifying need and directing resources: Resource allocation is driven by a range of complex factors where priorities are often in tension with one another

3. The relationship between youth work and schools: There is evidence of current successful youth work in schools, primarily focusing upon alternative curricula for those young people who do not benefit from school, but there is a need for greater clarity about the purpose of this work and its relationship to mainstream schooling; and, a more strategic approach in order to underpin what are frequently loose and uncoordinated arrangements.

4. Retaining the voluntary engagement of young people: youth workers are increasingly required to negotiate young people's involvement in order to retain their voluntary involvement. There is a need for further clarification by youth services and partner agencies so that expectations of youth work practice are clearly understood and agreed.

Conclusion:

This research demonstrates youth work is well positioned to make a sustained impact through the simultaneous development of relationships that connect young people with their communities so they can strengthen them (social capital) and the development of their own personal and social skills (human capital).