Redundancies fear over claim Shropshire youth service overhaul 'is based on incorrect information'

Last month the council agreed to pull the £157,260 funding from open access youth clubs and will instead pay for six outreach workers to cover the whole of Shropshire.

Town and parish councils will be asked to step in and fund them, or the clubs will face closure.

But Councillor Roger Evans, who leads Shropshire’s Liberal Democrat group, has issued a “call-in” request, asking for alternative measures to be considered.

His notice alleges that one town council only had a single one-to-one meeting about the plans, and remains concerned at the lack of detail, while another is already taking on other former Shropshire Council services and is “unlikely” to manage financially.

In that report - titled Shropshire’s Model for Youth Provision, and discussed by cabinet on January 22 - children’s services chief Karen Bradshaw wrote: “In the new model we will work with partners, including town and parish councils, to design and deliver a localised model of youth provision maximising the use of all available resources.”

Councillor Ed Potter, who holds the children’s services portfolio in the Conservative-run administration, told the cabinet: “As we come to the end of the current commissioning model for youth provision, we are acutely aware of the challenges which face young people right across the county, particularly those most vulnerable to what is commonly known as ‘county lines’, child criminal exploitation and child sexual exploitation.

“This is a great opportunity to work in partnership with multiple agencies and the voluntary sector to try to reach as many of these vulnerable young people as possible to ensure they do not get involved in such activities.”

Councillor Potter said the report came after “extensive consultation”, but Councillor Evans’ notice says Shropshire Youth Association, “who were quoted at the cabinet meeting as being in support of the modified proposals […], only did so if the way forward is properly costed and supported”.

Gap

This, he writes, would have to include “funding being secured and in place prior to delivery” and “workforce in place, with a clear structure and lines of delivery”.

Youth support in Ludlow currently receives “around £13,000” from the Local Joint Committee (LJC), according to Councillor Evans.

“No agreement has been sought by Shropshire Council with Ludlow Town Council and it is unlikely they will be able to afford to fully fill the gap caused by the withdrawal of funding,” he added.

“The town council are already having to take on other services vacated by Shropshire Council. This may well cause the employed youth worker to be made redundant.

Wem’s youth support receives approximately £6,500 from the LJC, and they are “very concerned with the lack of detail currently provided”, Councillor Evans said.

“A short one-to-one meeting was the only discussion held.”

The call-in request will be discussed by the performance management scrutiny committee on Tuesday, February 11.

At a previous meeting of that committee, Labour leader Alan Mosley also criticised the policy.

He praised the youth work of Shrewsbury Town Council, saying it has “a strong, detached team that it not based at any particular place, that can go to the kids, those that aren’t attached to youth club activities”.

He said: “We used to get £80,000 and now that’s down to £40,000. The funding for youth services has been slashed recently.

“The way Shropshire Council has encouraged us to continue this is to slash our budget completely through the proposal that came through cabinet. It’s a terrible policy.”