Street-based youth work with vulnerable young people who are not in education, training or employment has expanded significantly in recent years. But the first major study of provision across England and Wales also points to a shift away from offering longer-term support towards short-term projects where the funding is limited and staff turnover is high.
A national survey of projects by researchers from the Universities of Luton, Durham and Lincoln identified 564 projects that were in touch with 65,000 young people. Most were in the 13-19 age group, also targeted by the Government’s Connexions advice and support service. However, coverage varied widely between different parts of the country, with some of the highest concentrations of street-based work found in small towns, rather than major cities.
Nearly two-thirds of those in contact with street-based youth workers were boys, partly reflecting a growing emphasis in policy and funding on crime prevention initiatives. The research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that 30 per cent of young people when first contacted were not in education, 24 per cent received no income or benefits, 45 per cent had criminal histories and 34 per cent were living in inadequate or temporary accommodation. Lack of leisure facilities was the biggest single difficulty that the young people identified (60 per cent), but other problems included alcohol, drugs and poor family relationships, as well as literacy, numeracy and sexual health problems.
Although improvements could not simply be attributed to the involvement of a street-based youth worker, a study of the progress of a random sample of 76 young people over three to six months identified positive changes. These included:
Many of the youth workers interviewed expressed concern about the effects that their closer involvement in crime prevention and community safety initiatives might have on the way their role was perceived by young people. They were also worried by the adverse consequences of short-term, target-driven funding on their practice. Staff turnover was high, and they believed it had become more difficult to build a long-term relationship with young people and gain their trust.
Prof. John Pitts of the University of Luton, a co-author of the study, said: “Street-based work with socially excluded young people is delivering, but it could be delivering a great deal more if its potential impact were more widely recognised and resources allocated accordingly. Current funding regimes aim to achieve the closest possible fit between policy objectives and practice outcomes. While this has encouraged innovation, tight targeting and time-limited funding have also served to destabilise some projects. At least half those we surveyed were struggling to stay afloat. Smaller voluntary sector projects and those run by local residents were especially vulnerable.”
He added: “Although some street-based workers were apprehensive about the advent of the Government’s Connexions support services for young people, it was clear to us that the two should be able to work together effectively. Even so, the Government ought to be clearer about its expectations of Connexions workers and their flexibility to adapt to local circumstances, if they are to link up successfully with existing street-based projects. We also hope there can be fuller awareness of the time it takes to help vulnerable young people gain confidence and maturity, in place of the arbitrary cut-off points set by many existing funding regimes for street-based youth work.”
Costings
Extending street-based youth work to provide projects in the most deprived 5 per cent of areas in England and Wales would cost around £24 million a year, according to calculations commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to accompany the report. The illustrations, prepared by Tom Wylie, Director of the National Youth Agency, and George Smith of the University of Oxford, suggest that provision, covering the most deprived 50 per cent of areas, would cost around £142 million. This is about 4 per cent of the budgets in those areas for secondary schools and compares with £450 million a year currently spent on Connexions.