Young people help shape activities for young people

Shropshire Council will continue to deliver the maximum number of youth sessions possible in the areas of highest social need until 31 March 2015, at which point a new commissioning model will be introduced to ensure that future youth activities meet young people’s needs.

This decision, made earlier this month (Wednesday 2 July 2014) by Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for leisure, libraries and culture, follows two extensive consultations with young people, their parents and carers, as well as the council’s partners about interim and future activities for young people.

Gwilym Butler said:

“I would like to thank everyone who got involved and had their say on this important service.  We have listened and taken into consideration everyone’s comments before deciding on, what we feel is, the best way forward.”

The interim solution (until 31 March 2015) will help the council deal with the immediate pressure of reducing the number of council-run youth work sessions from May 2014, following a reduction in the number of paid youth workers via voluntary redundancy.

It will mean that the number of council-run sessions will reduce from 47 to 28 per week. The remaining ones will be delivered in the areas of highest need, and to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people and young people with disabilities.

Gwilym Butler added:

“This was never going to be an easy decision to make.  However, tighter budgets mean that we constantly need to look for new ways to make sure that the money we have is spent well in local areas, and more importantly, focus our efforts on those most in need.”

In the meantime the council, alongside its partners, is considering how to best shape and provide activities for young people in the county from 1 April 2015.

Gwilym Butler said:

“Some concerns were raised during the consultation about increased bureaucracy, leading to less money spent on activities.  Therefore, instead of developing further the Local Area Youth Boards which were piloted in three areas (Wem, Church Stretton, Craven Arms), we will use existing local governance arrangements, such as Local Joint Committees (LJCs). We will test this revised model with some LJCs between now and the end of September 2014.

“There are many exciting opportunities ahead for young people who are passionate about shaping the services that they use.  We will continue involving them as we make these important decisions.”

Further information

Consultation responses

From January 2014 until March 2014, the council consulted with a wide range of stakeholders on its future proposal (from 1 April 2015).  It recorded 591 responses to the consultation, including comments from 289 young people.

It recorded 1,060 responses to the consultation on the interim proposal (until 31 March 2015).  The majority of respondents (740) said they preferred Option 1.  The council is therefore planning to implement this option and operate 28 sessions.