80 per cent drop in youth services funding over decade

The YMCA gathered data from 84 local authorities on planned spending for 2019-20, with the average spend per council at £2.45 million, compared with £7.79 million in 2010-11.

It has sparked concerns from senior figures at the youth charity.

Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England and Wales, says the cuts to youth services ‘are not without consequences’ and ‘we are already seeing the impact of these’ in communities across the country.

Warrington is one of the councils where a drop of more than 80 per cent in spending on youth services is expected between 2010-11 and 2019-20.

The spending came to £3,471,000 in 2010-11 but is planned to total £668,000 in 2019-20.

A council spokesman said: “In recent years we, like a number of other authorities, have seen a significant reduction in grant funding from the Government to support our youth services.

“We are still committed to providing youth services in Warrington and have recently undertaken a redesign of services to maximise the resources available to us, to ensure services remain effective and provide timely interventions for young people.”

The authority says a recent restructure has enabled ‘further capacity’ of youth workers to support services – and insists improving outcomes for young people is ‘at the heart’ of its youth work practice.

The spokesman added: “We aim to provide the right support so that young people are able to make positive and informed choices, participate in local decision making and community life, build resilience, self-confidence and self-esteem, engage in positive activities and raise personal aspirations.

“This will assist us to deliver high quality programmes of informal, social and personal education to young people of all ages.

“Youth work teams will deliver tailored programmes within youth centres such as such as Orford Youth Base, Warrington Youth Café, children centres, within our schools and through outreach work in parks and community settings.”