More than 1,000 youth and community support workers could be recruited using money removed from a flagship government fund for youth services, according to new LGA analysis.
It is concerned the Government has reduced its Youth Investment Fund from £500 million to £378 million.
The fund, announced in 2019 and due to be rolled out to 45 councils, is designed to create, expand and improve local youth facilities and their services. Restoring the £122 million shortfall could pay for around 1,200 full-time youth and community support workers over three years – increasing the overall number by around a third, and helping boost local efforts to support children and young people’s growing mental health needs, and tackle increasing rates of knife crime.
Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “Councils and youth sector partners have been waiting more than two years for the fund, only to find that the original funding commitment is being reduced.
“We are also unconvinced that improving facilities should take greater priority over investing in the staff and youth work programmes that can be transformative to a young person’s life. It is important the Government sticks to its original funding commitment and allows councils to invest in hiring hundreds of full-time youth workers.
“As we come out of the pandemic, it is important that young people are able to build high-quality relationships with trusted adults.”