Shropshire youth clubs funding overhaul to go ahead
There will be no U-turn over Shropshire Council’s plans to withdraw all funding from the county’s youth clubs to pay for six outreach workers.
The authority’s shake-up of youth services, ratified by cabinet last month, will not be reviewed after members of a scrutiny committee rejected a plea from the opposition Liberal Democrat group.
Group leader Roger Evans had issued a ‘call-in’ request to have the cabinet decision discussed by the committee, saying it was based on false information.
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He said: “We need to support our youth in all the ways that we can and that we can afford. We could provide funding while discussions take place with the voluntary sector and with the town and parish councils.”
But members supported the council’s plan to press on with the overhaul of its youth services model.
It means the council will no longer fund open access youth clubs, with the burden of paying for and running them to be passed on to town and parish councils or voluntary groups.
The council claims the move is in response to the increase in demand for mental health support and to reach vulnerable young people who may otherwise be targeted by county lines drug gangs.
Council officers told the committee that the consultation identified a problem with many young people being unwilling to attend youth clubs - and these were often the children most in need of support.
Councillors Alan Mosley and Hannah Fraser highlighted the positive step taken by Shrewsbury Town Council in employing its own youth worker. They said the money would be better spent building on existing projects, rather than employing new outreach workers to duplicate work already being done.
Richard Parkes, chief executive of Shropshire Youth Association, said the charity was broadly supportive of the proposed changes, on the condition that the council continue funding youth clubs until alternative arrangements had been made over their funding.
Karen Bradshaw, director of children’s services, said funding would continue until March 2021 as part of a phased switch to the new model.
Members also heard there was a missed opportunity to conduct an Equality and Social Inclusion Impact Assessment (ESIIA) following the consultation, to identify exactly who had responded, what they said, and who had not responded. An initial ESIIA was carried out before the consultation, but it is best practice to repeat the process afterwards.
Councillor Claire Wild, chair of the scrutiny committee, proposed another ESIIA be carried out.
Councillor Ed Potter, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “I am in no doubt that we need to do something differently in Shropshire to make sure we are accessing those vulnerable young people. This is a sensible move forward.”
