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Targeted youth support (TYS) redesigning services: Things to do, places to go to benefit all young people

Contact:
mike.cooper@knowsley.gov.uk
Provider:
Training and Development Agency
Topics:
Targeted youth support
Type:
Emerging practice
Date:
December 2006
Region:
North West England

Issue

There has been a focus on providing diversionary activities for young people in Knowsley. Although these activities are available to the majority of young people, only a few are getting involved.

Unfortunately, those not attending are left with little to do and a lack of safe places to go and frequently hang around in groups on the street. There is a local perception that all young people in the area are a problem and there is danger of this becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Background

All LAs have a duty to provide activities for young people over the age of 13 under the Youth Matters requirements and have funding allocation from the lottery. They are required to produce a play strategy as a part of their submission to access this funding.

The diversionary activities already provided by the authority have had a positive impact on offending, anti-social behaviour and school exclusion rates among the small number of young people who are attending.

Actions prompted by targeted youth support (TYS)

The many young people engaged by the TYS change process in Halewood (the TYS pathfinder area) overwhelmingly stated that they wanted more safe places to go where they were not bothering other residents. They also requested access to funding so they could be directly involved in developing appropriate safe places to go and things to do in the area.

As a result, a TYS change team, Neighbourhood and Housing, comprising staff from a range of agencies, was set up to specifically look at and develop more things to do and places to go. The team is making young people central to its decision making, actively seeking out and acting on their ideas to ensure all solutions are appropriate and wanted.

Benefits and results

The TYS process has helped inform the provision of activities for young people over 13 in Halewood. It has also highlighted the need to provide and incorporate corresponding activities for the under 13s, although these activities will not be funded by the lottery.

The TYS process has made us aware of the whole picture and the full range of resources available to young people in Halewood, not just those provided by the youth services. This enables us to prioritise our work and provide activities in areas that produce the most benefit for all young people

Head of the youth service, Mike Cooper

A youth action group is being established and part of its role will be to look at bids for youth opportunities and youth capital funds, which will be used by young people to develop safe activities in the area. As these funds are for young people of 13 and above, the action group has noted that bids also need to be made for funds to enable the younger age group to develop activities. The group is also aware of the need to ensure the requirements of under 13s are an integral part of the authority's play strategy.

Money from the Big Lottery Fund is potentially available to the authority to pay for some elements of its play strategy. The young people's engagement that has gone on throughout the TYS process has provided the detailed information needed to drive the authority's submission for this money.

Throughout the TYS process young people have also been participating in the design of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project, which includes community resources as part of extended services. Their suggestions about the use of informal space around new buildings have been very creative, for example, turning walls into climbing walls. It is anticipated that BSF facilities will be available in the evenings, at weekends and during the holidays but this will require funding.

TYS has also mobilised the youth service to work with local schools to look at alternatives to school (particularly for young people not currently attending school) and at different ways of working with young people to get them ready for the world of work.

One plan is to use youth achievement awards to help demonstrate that young people are socially mature and ready for work, rather than simply to focus on their academic attainments. The collegiate 14-19 team and youth service are working more closely to share information, educational methods and awards to help foster and improve their service for young people.

It is anticipated that more things to do and safe places to go for all young people will reduce the number of young people currently hanging around on the streets and impact positively on those that are behaving negatively. Current service measures and achievement awards will be used to monitor this.

The LA

Knowsley is an urban unitary authority with areas of high deprivation. The TYS pathfinder is focused on a small and stable working class area. Knowsley's statistical neighbours (DCSF measures) include:

Click to read more case studies on redesigning services to help young people with particular needs.

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Last updated on 01/12/2006