The shape of youth services to come

WEST SUSSEX: Peter Evans, Cabinet Member for Children and Families

There has been much debate in recent months about the future of youth service provision in West Sussex.

The background, of course, is the fact that the county council has to reduce its spending by £79m over the next three years, which involves making some difficult choices.

But it also gives us the chance to look at new and innovative ways of delivering some services and working more closely with a range of partners, including community groups and the voluntary sector.

I hope most people will support our decision to direct scarce resources to where they are most needed and can have the greatest positive impact.

That is why in the future we will concentrate on intensive early intervention and targeted support for West Sussex's most vulnerable young people. That means young people who are vulnerable or at risk of being affected by issues such as alcohol, drugs, bullying, and those who might be committing or are likely to commit crime and antisocial behaviour.

Transitional support

While this new focus means we are withdrawing from direct provision of universal services, there are no plans to suddenly shut up shop and walk away. We will do our best to provide transitional support in the move towards a new service model.

Over recent months we have been meeting and talking to community and voluntary organisations, as well as local management committees for youth centres, exploring how they can take over the buildings we currently use to continue delivering youth activities within their own communities.

We are also developing an extensive menu of practical help, guidance and support we can offer to interested parties.

This includes helping groups to become more self-sufficient or find other sources of external funding and developing a policy to support groups that want to take over running county council buildings.

I believe we can create a new service for the future by providing professional support and guidance. The buildings transfer policy also shows clearly that the county council is not in the business of just walking away from services.

We believe that a big society approach is the right way forward.

Approach End direct delivery of universal services and target resources at the most vulnerable young people

Anticipated savings £2m

OXFORDSHIRE: Louise Chapman, cabinet member for children, young people and families

In Oxfordshire, positive discussions continue about keeping open youth facilities that the council will not be able to fund, and real innovation is planned.

Changes to our youth service are all part of a wider strategy to merge together various services relating to young people and families and provide them under one roof at hubs across Oxfordshire.

The changes will see a brand new innovative early intervention service, designed to support those young people in most need.

The new service will deal with issues such as absence and exclusion from school, young people not in employment, education and training, teenage pregnancy, substance misuse and antisocial or offending behaviour as well as the traditional youth service. These services are currently provided separately from each other.

Youth work hubs

The service will operate from seven hubs across the county working closely with children's centres and other partners. They will also provide further outreach services. These hubs will continue to offer evening and weekend sessions to young people.

There are currently 26 dedicated young people's centres that are fully or significantly funded by Oxfordshire County Council. The proposal is that 13 centres should have funding to continue to provide youth work. Seven of these will be hubs operating from Banbury, Bicester, Witney, Didcot, Abingdon and two in Oxford.

Youth work will also continue in six satellite centres feeding into the hubs at Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill, Barton, Riverside, Berinsfield and Kidlington. This will save on management costs since activities will be managed and administrated by hub managers to preserve more frontline work.

Of the other centres not included in the plan for early intervention service hubs, six are on school sites and positive discussions are taking place with the schools about keeping them open. These are at Eynsham, Thame, Chiltern Edge, Wantage, Chipping Norton and Wheatley.

There are a further six young people's centres where discussions are taking place with local people to come up with methods of keeping facilities running. These are Faringdon, Wolvercote, Saxon Centre (Oxford), Carterton, Wallingford and Wood Farm, Oxford. Henley Young People's Centre is not owned by the council but receives financial support and discussions continue about arrangements.

There are other miscellaneous arrangements where the council currently provides some support to privately operated youth services. Discussions are taking place about their future.

Approach Merge youth services with others relating to young people and families and employ a youth hub model

Anticipated savings £4.2m

MANCHESTER: Mike Livingstone, director of children's services

We are currently asking Manchester residents for their views on plans for youth services in the city. The consultation will run until 31 May so no decisions about the future shape of the service will be made until after then. The council has to save £109m this year, rising to £170m next - 25 per cent of its whole budget.

All areas of the council must look at making savings, including the youth service. Proposals have now been drawn up to make savings.

It is proposed that the council will withdraw from its role as a direct provider of youth services but will work with schools, colleges, the voluntary sector and other agencies to ensure a range of good recreational opportunities and information and advice is available to young people across the city.

We propose that the council will retain a small budget to commission targeted provision for the most vulnerable young people. It is anticipated that the majority of this money will be available to local voluntary organisations that can demonstrate a good track record in improving outcomes for young people who are farthest away from the job market.

It is also proposed that the information, advice and guidance service currently provided to all young people through Connexions will be targeted on the most vulnerable young people.

Young people represent the future of our city and we remain committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible services, despite the very challenging circumstances.

We believe these proposals are the fairest we could draw up in these very difficult times, but we're also keen to have an open and genuine consultation process where all views and ideas will be considered.

Approach Hand over universal youth services to the voluntary sector and focus on providing targeted support

Anticipated savings £3.5m

DEVON: Christine Channon, cabinet member with responsibility for the youth service

Devon's youth service is a universal and education-based service, which offers developmental programmes and opportunities to young people aged 13 to 19. The service works with the voluntary sector to offer a wide and varied number of activities and opportunities across the county.

Now that the government is looking to local authorities to commission many of its services, we are seeking to develop the youth service through a new structure, providing a key offer for delivery of its services. The reduction in funding from central government has focused our attention on developing priorities for the youth service. We are committed to keeping youth centres open and protecting frontline staff. We are only planning to close one youth centre in the county, which is only used one evening a week, and is close to another centre, with which it will be merged.

Pooled resources

The service is being reorganised to reduce the number of geographical teams from six to four; reducing the number of team leaders and senior area youth workers and pairing some centres with neighbouring ones under the management of one area youth worker. This will help us achieve the budget reduction by reducing management and back-office staff, and will provide added benefits of pooled resources and economies of scale.

The new structure will also provide opportunities to integrate the service with careers and youth offending services to enable a more seamless, single pathway for young people.

We recognise the importance of maintaining the service, and intend to work even more extensively with the voluntary sector to ensure young people's needs are met through a wide variety of provision.

The Red Rock youth centre in Dawlish, which opened last year, is one example of the new way of working. The centre has quickly become a community hub that provides a conduit into key services for young people in the area, including careers advice and vocational training. As well as a host of the more traditional youth service activities on offer there are also purpose-designed suites where young people can learn vocational skills such as carpentry and general building. There is also a fully equipped hair salon and catering room, where silver service training is provided, and even a restaurant that is regularly open to the public.

New youth centres in South Molton and Chulmleigh are also in the final stages of completion. These centres will continue the theme of providing a multi-agency community hub for young people in the area.

Approach Reduce number of geographical teams and managers, and pool resources with other relevant services

Anticipated savings £683,500

WARWICKSHIRE: Heather Timms, lead member for children, young people and families

Warwickshire County Council must make unprecedented savings of more than £60m across all our services by 2014. For the youth service, this means a £3.5m reduction in funding.

The pace and magnitude of the financial challenge requires large-scale reform. We have been forced to make some difficult decisions across the whole organisation, including accepting that we can no longer sustain youth services in their current form. We have no choice but to change the way we meet the needs of Warwickshire young people.

However, with change comes a time for review, and our Transformation of Youth Service proposals offer us new opportunities. We envisage that services for young people will still be on offer through collaborations with voluntary and community groups and we have invested £1m to develop these links and lay strong foundations for the future.

It is essential that we regularly engage with young people and that they continue to have opportunities to take part in activities and have a voice in our communities.

Enhanced support for more vulnerable young people must also be ensured, so a key part of our work will now focus on early intervention, working in targeted areas of greatest disadvantage. As part of this, we will look at how best to reach these groups and establish their needs.

Young people's voices

We have identified three strands to our commitment to transform youth services. These are continuing to ensure that young people have a voice through initiatives such as the UK Youth Parliament and locality forums; enabling and developing capacity within the voluntary sector; and developing a flexible youth workforce that can meet some of the needs of young people in areas where there is no other provision.

We will be reviewing the value of all premises used for youth service activities, which will provide a focus for both future partnership work and for offering dedicated young people services in the communities of greatest need.

A consultation that invites the views of young people, communities, voluntary services and other interested groups is currently under way and feedback will be reviewed over the coming months.

Approach Deliver youth services through the voluntary sector and provide enhanced support to the most vulnerable

Anticipated savings £3.5m