Youth Sector Briefing

This note seeks to:• Raise concerns over the Dept of Education’s

proposed budget for 2008-2011• Asks for a review of all youth service funding• Pass comment on the future administration of the

service• Highlight some key areas of need for the future

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Youth Service Financesource Fundamental Review of Service CMSU Dec 2004

• Youth work receives approximately 1.4% of the overall education budget

• 14% of ELBs youth service budget goes to running Residential Centres which in turn help to subsidise the schools system

• Considerable amounts of youth sector resources support the formal sector

• Funding for voluntary groups has not kept pace with inflation ref ‘fundamental review of services’ 2004

• Recent research suggests the vast majority of youth work is delivered by the voluntary sector but they receive less than 30% of the funding. Faith Based youth in NI & Geo-mapping YCNI

• The financial plan being approved in DE coincides with other potential cut backs in funding e.g. increase superannuation costs, job evaluation costs and the end of Peace 2 monies

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DE Proposed funding 2008-2011year Total YS grant increase Capital grant Schools

increase

2007/08 £30.7m £6.4m

2008/09 £31.4m 2.2% £5m 3.4%

2009/10 £31.7m 1.2% £5m 5.9%

2010/11 £31.9m 0.4% £5m 4.5%

• We note the differences in budget increases over the period 2008 -2011. It appears that mainstream education is destined to receive an increase of 24% over the period while Youth & Community Relations will only receive 3.9%. This does not matchinflation nor does it accommodate expected rises in superannuation and job re-evaluation costs. We estimate the real reduction in resources over the period to be in excess of 10%. • We ask the Education Committee to monitor ELB & YCNI budget implementation and to ensure frontline services are not disadvantaged.•We would welcome a full review of youth service spending priorities which considers:

•Residential centres •Voluntary sector grant aid•RPA savings

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Youth Sector Administration• We note the recent discussions regarding transfer of Youth Sector administration

to District Councils. The YMCA suggests the following issues deserve consideration:

– Youth work is essentially an educational service and best placed close to where educational administration and policy is driven, so it can complement & develop in parallel

– Transferring to Councils would be contrary to the aims of RPA as it would create 11 administrative sections as opposed to one - therefore failing to free resources for frontline services

– Youth work at delivery level, presently links strongly with work in the classroom, - working in a separate administrative areas would impair this relationship

– The majority of youth work is supported through regional organisations providing infrastructural support. A Council managed service does not recognise this dimension within the NI youth sector experience

– Past experience of Council control, i.e. in GB, has been detrimental to the development of the service. Often the service has been merged with leisure services and gradually reduced in its effectiveness

• There is certainly a need for youth organisations to participate and relate to local government, however this can be achieved through participation in the community planning process rather than full transfer of administration

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Key youth sector PrioritiesWhat are the important youth needs and what contribution can youth work add to education

• Alternative learning opportunities:Many of the young people we work with struggle at school but thrive in a youth work

environment. It affords all participants learning opportunities but seems to be particularly effective with young people who’s full potential isn’t being reached in formal education

• Health:This generation face immense health challenges – establishing healthy living habits at

an early age is an increasing key element of our work

• Community Relations:Combating sectarianism and building a truly shared future is fundamental to all our

work from an inter community or international perspective

• Family youth work: Engaging the whole family in a child’s development is an area of innovation and growth which

youth work is learning to use effectively. Youth work through its use of volunteers, community engagement and participative processes can be highly successful in building trust, ownership and healthy relationships for long term personal development.

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