Second youth service mutual gets go-ahead

Knowsley Youth Mutual (KYM) will deliver the North West council’s youth services from next April, providing open access youth clubs, award programmes and specialist support services.

The council follows in the footsteps of the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which set up the first employee-led youth services mutual in April.

The decision to establish KYM was made with the intention of safeguarding the borough’s youth services and the jobs of those delivering them, both of which might otherwise be at risk due to government cuts to local authority funding.

As a social enterprise, KYM will be able to access a variety of funding sources and trade its services on the open market, allowing it to generate more income.

It will also be able to invest any profit it makes back into youth service provision.

Viv Murray, chair of the KYM shadow board, said: “The aim of KYM is to raise the aspirations of young people in Knowsley, opening up a variety of opportunities and giving them a greater influence over how services are delivered.

“We have developed KYM in consultation with staff and young people in the borough, and they will remain the key influencers in deciding how the business grows and develops in the coming years.”

The social enterprise will be supported by the Cabinet Office’s Mutuals Support Programme, which provides advice and support to mutuals that are in development and operating.

The Cabinet Office launched the programme in the belief that giving people a stake in their business improves productivity and innovation.

The Kensington and Chelsea mutual operates four youth centres itself and has space in several others run by the voluntary sector. It also works directly with the community and provides guidance and support for 13- to 19-year-olds, such as intensive one-to-one work in music, sport and education.