Lack of access to youth services reduces young people’s interest in sector careers, NYA warns
Fiona Simpson
Friday, June 28, 2024
Reduced access to youth services could be preventing young people from entering the sector when looking for employment, a new survey from the National Youth Agency (NYA) warns.
The NYA’s first youth services workforce survey finds that just 6% of the current workforce joined the sector in the last year, with numbers of young people embarking on youth work careers dwindling.
Just 7% of around 1,000 people who took part in the NYA’s survey are under 26 while almost half are aged 46 and above.
Almost two-thirds of older participants said they joined the sector in a bid to “give something back” having experienced youth work themselves.
However, the report suggests that the lack of access to services during the childhood and teenage years of people now in their early 20s is impacting this age group’s interest in joining the workforce.
Kevin Jones, deputy director of youth work at the NYA says: “It is unsurprising that as access to youth work opportunities for young people has decreased there has been a knock-on impact on recruitment into the workforce.”
The workforce survey also highlights high levels of vacancies within the sector with 175 youth work vacancies identified across 117 organisations in May.
According to latest NYA figures the youth services workforce has lost around 4,500 frontline practitioners over the last 12 years amid a 77% cut in local authority funding for provision over the same time period.
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Read CYP Now’s in-depth analysis of the workforce survey here.
