MD2662 Summer and Autumn 2020 Activities for Young People

This expenditure of £1,650,000 funds additional positive activities to support children and young people in London in the aftermath and transition period as lockdown measures from COVID-19 start to ease. Investment will allow for a six-month programme of activities, including outreach and detached youth work, to support children and young people, including the most vulnerable young people and their families. Activity directly contributes to an identified recovery priority around positive opportunities for young people.

The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on children and young people in London has been profound. We know from research and stakeholder engagement across the GLA and the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) that lockdown has had significant effects on young people’s mental health, wellbeing, loneliness, activity levels and future opportunities (e.g. education and employment). It is also having a disproportionate impact on vulnerable young people.

​​​​​​​A UK Youth report[1] on the impact of COVID-19 on the youth sector and young people found: increased mental health or wellbeing concerns, increased loneliness and isolation, lack of safe spaces, challenging family relationships, lack of trusted relationships or someone to turn to, increased social media or online pressure, higher risk for engaging in gangs, substance misuse, carrying weapons or other harmful practices and higher risk for sexual exploitation or grooming. The ongoing City Hall London Community Response Survey[2] consistently shows mental health, anxiety and the needs of young people as key concerns.

The Mayor’s £45m Young Londoners Fund was launched in May 2018 and has funded more than 300 projects that will help over 110,000 children and young people fulfil their potential, particularly those who are at risk of getting caught up in crime, over four years (as approved in MD2265 and MD2510). There is currently £400,000 uncommitted funding for 2020/21 from the Young Londoners Fund budget that can be invested in this programme. If additional funding becomes available from the existing £45m Young Londoners Fund this may also be used to fund activity through this programme.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Over 75 per cent of Young Londoners Fund projects have continued delivering through the COVID-19 pandemic – with some seeing significant increase in demand from vulnerable young people. Many organisations have fed back that there is the need for additional activity to engage new young Londoners with their services as lockdown eases. We have recently surveyed organisations that the GLA currently grant funds through the Young Londoners Fund to provide such services for young people to identify if there is demand for, and capacity to deliver, additional activities over the summer and autumn. 70 per cent of responders (95) so far have replied to say that this is the case.

In February 2020, the Mayor announced funding to build on the Young Londoners Fund – providing new funding for projects and programmes that provide positive opportunities for disadvantaged young people and help steer them away from crime. £1.2m of this funding was allocated in 2020/21, this includes £450,000 that was agreed for a programme of 2020 summer holiday sports activity approved in MD2591. It is proposed the total £1.2m is now invested in this new summer and autumn 2020 activity programme.

Team London’s Young Ambassadors schools social action programme supports young people to run social action and community projects. The additional allocation will fund further activity from September to December 2020, whilst the current programme is being re-procured, and will give young people a role in London’s recovery. The programme will be targeted at schools serving more deprived areas in London, and young people most likely to have been impacted by COVID-19.

The Violence Reduction Unit, hosted by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), will provide a revenue grant of £500,000 towards this programme, so bringing City Hall funding together to fund a coordinated offer of support for children and young people as COVID-19 lockdown measures start to ease.

This MD seeks approval for:

• total expenditure of up to £1,650,000 in 2020/21 to fund a programme of positive activities for young people, with delivery up to March 2021;
• of the £1,650,000 total expenditure, a budget transfer of £27,000 in 2020/21 from the Young Londoners Fund to the Team London Young Ambassador programme and approval for expenditure of £27,000 to run social action and community projects from September to December 2020 targeted at schools serving more deprived areas, and young people most likely to have been impacted by COVID-19; and
• MOPAC making a revenue grant of £500,000 to the GLA under section 121 of the GLA Act 1999 and receipt by the GLA of the same, which the GLA will earmark towards offering diversion and prevention opportunities to supporting vulnerable young people.

The table below sets out past approvals for activity related to proposals in this MD.

The majority of investment will be made through the London Community Response Fund[3] (LCRF) with grants of up to £50k to Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) organisations. This investment will allow for up to six-month delivery of activities, including outreach and detached youth work, to support children and young people aged up to 25, including the most vulnerable young people and their families. More details on the objectives and outcomes can be found in section 2.

The LCRF was launched by the Mayor and City Bridge Trust in March 2020, and is coordinated by London Funders[4]. It supports London’s VCS organisations to respond to the needs of communities in the capital affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and brings together funding from many different organisations. A single fund application point for charities and community groups enables organisations to access funding from multiple funders in a fast and efficient way.

Applications to deliver this activity will be made through the LCRF portal and the GLA will select its own portfolio of grants and manage them (either directly or through a managing agent).

Violence Reduction Unit officers will work with the GLA to select applications from the LCRF portal that meet the priorities in paragraph 2.5, which the GLA will grant fund and manage (either directly or through a managing agent).

Using the LCRF to select grants enables the GLA to fund a coordinated London programme and avoid duplication with other funders whilst giving the GLA the flexibility to fund applications that meet our specific priorities. We will hold back a small amount of funding for varying grants of current Young Londoners Fund grant recipients that have expressed an interest in upscaling their current projects over the summer and autumn 2020 but are not eligible to apply for the LCRF (e.g. schools, Pupil Referral Units, Youth Offending Teams and Local Authorities).

The objective of this expenditure is to offer a coherent and co-ordinated programme of activities for young people as lockdown requirements ease, especially for those that are most vulnerable and have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Expected outcomes for young people include: increased engagement, improved health and well-being, reduced violence, improved relationships, improved behaviour, improved attainment, and increased employment.

The GLA Young Londoners Fund investment (up to £1,150,000) will be for activities including: detached, pop-up and mobile youth work, mental health and wellbeing support, projects to tackle isolation and loneliness, educational attainment catch-up and/or transitions from primary to secondary school, year 11 to year 13 transition into higher and further education or employment and training, other support to inspire and motivate young Londoners and support to families and carers.

The £27,000 allocation of YLF funds (from the £1,150,000 in paragraph 2.3) to the Team London Young Ambassadors programme will provide interventions for 300 young people attending Pupil Referral Units, SEND schools, and schools serving more deprived areas of London. These young people will collaborate on 20 social action projects between them and provide extensive support to 230 schools across London, with light touch support and resources offered to our community of 700 schools. This activity will take place from September – December 2020 whilst a new programme of activity is procured. Procurement had been planned to commence in March 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19.

The Violence Reduction Unit expenditure from MOPAC (up to £500,000) will be concentrated towards offering diversion and prevention opportunities to vulnerable young people in need (and any associated management and administration fees). In particular, it will support detached youth work and community youth work interventions in hyper-local areas affected by violence, particularly for young people who are unsafe at home, affected by county lines and those young people living in poverty whose mental health has been impacted through lockdown. Funding will add capacity to existing work taking place across the VCS in London working to divert people away from violence, making an intervention at an early stage and working to address the root causes of violence by providing some of the most disadvantaged young Londoners who have been exposed to violence with positive life opportunities.

The GLA Community Sport investment (up to £450,000 and approved in MD2591) will fund holiday and after-school sport and physical activity, engaging children and young people who are most vulnerable to, or involved in, crime and anti-social behaviour (and any associated management and administration fees). Organisations that receive grant funding will additionally undergo training and capacity-building, to support their workforce in achieving the following beneficiary outcomes: improved behaviours; enhanced social support; increased resilience; improved life skills. Organisations that receive grant funding will be guided and supported in delivering their interventions safely in line with current government restrictions and Public Health England guidelines, and in educating their beneficiaries about the importance of adhering to these. The GLA Community Sports investment brings the total City Hall funding allocated to this programme to £2.1m.

In total, accounting for management and administration costs, it is anticipated that the investment will fund between 30 to 50 projects which will benefit over 5,000 children and young people from August 2020 to March 2021.

Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Mayor must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

Research shows that young people will be adversely affected by the impact of COVID-19. The Resolution Foundation found that one-third of 18-24-year-old employees (excluding students) have lost jobs or been furloughed, compared to one-in-six older adults. A Sutton Trust report states that the closure of schools is likely to have a considerable impact for all pupils, but the largest impact is likely to fall on those from the poorest families; including from the wider COVID-19 effects such as increased poverty and food insecurity. The Princes Trust’s recent survey shows that 29% of young people feel their future career prospects have already been damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. 33% feel that everything they have worked for is now “going to waste”.

This programme will support children and young people who have been most affected by the impact of COVID-19 including those at risk of exclusion or involvement in criminal activity. This can mean, for example, being at risk of social exclusion or isolation due to mental ill health, learning difficulties, having a disrupted family, having a low socio-economic status, having low educational attainment etc.

Key risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

Activity directly contributes to an identified COVID-19 recovery priority around positive opportunities for young people.

This programme of Summer/Autumn activity aligns with the Mayor’s priority to reduce serious youth violence in London and the work of the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit to address the root causes of violent crime by improving young people’s resilience, aspiration and ambition and preventative solutions to tackling violence and knife crime.

This programme also contributes to other key Mayoral strategies, for example the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy which includes an objective to help reduce the disproportionate impact of crime on children and young people, who are at risk of becoming either victims or perpetrators of crime, and the London Health Inequalities Strategy which includes objectives to ensure every London child has a healthy start in life and whose wellbeing is nurtured and supported through The Mayor’s Thrive London Programme.

Impact assessments and consultations

The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on children and young people in London has been profound. Research has shown that there are also wider concerns, including a lack of safe spaces and higher risk for engaging in gangs and other harmful behaviours. A UK Youth report[1], published on 8 April 2020, on the impact of COVID-19 on the youth sector and young people found key areas of concern include: increased mental health or wellbeing concerns, increased loneliness and isolation, lack of safe space – including not being able to access their youth club/ service and lack of safe spaces at home, challenging family relationships, lack of trusted relationships or someone to turn to, increased social media or online pressure, higher risk for engaging in gangs, substance misuse, carrying weapons or other harmful practices; and higher risk for sexual exploitation or grooming.

The ongoing City Hall London Community Response Survey[2], led by the Community Engagement Team, consistently shows mental health, anxiety and the needs of young people as key concerns. The environment for organisations supporting children and young people in London is also a difficult one. A London Youth report[3], looking at survey results from their member organisations found a third of youth workers said that their youth organisation was facing significant and immediate financial pressure, with a quarter of youth workers listing funding and income as their organisation’s most immediate concern.

There are no conflicts of interest to declare for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

Approval is sought for expenditure of up to £1,650,000 towards a six-month programme of activities, during the planned easing of lockdown measures associated with COVID-19, and during the recovery period.

Of this expenditure, £27,000 will be transferred to and managed by the Team London Young Ambassador programme to run social action and community projects as detailed in the body of this decision. The remaining £1,623,000 will be managed by the Young London Fund programme.

The £1,650,000 expenditure will be funded by; £1,150,000 from the 2020/21 Young Londoners Fund programme budget (held within the Education & Youth Unit) and £500,000 from income receipts from the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC), on behalf of the Violence Reduction Unit.

Sections 1 to 4 of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conductive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment, all in Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
• consider how the proposals will promote the improve of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
• consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, as noted in section 3 above, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Any services required must be procured by Transport for London Commercial who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in line with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.

Officers must ensure any grant funding being provided to third parties as set out in Section 1 and 2 are distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities duty and in a manner which affords value for money and in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and the recipient before any commitment to fund is made.

Section 121 of the GLA Act 1999 provides that MOPAC may, with the consent of the Mayor, pay a grant towards meeting the revenue expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the GLA for the purposes of, or in connection with, the discharge of its functions. Officers must ensure an appropriate funding letter is put in place between MOPAC and GLA before any commitment to fund is made.