Publication from Siân Berry: A lost year for youth work?

This briefing provides a first look at both the immediate and potential long-term effects of the pandemic on youth services in London.

We are now 12 months into the coronavirus crisis, during which councils have faced a two-pronged emergency: they have had to rapidly adapt services to national restrictions, to help reduce infection rates, while managing on continued squeezed resources.

This briefing is a snapshot of how councils have managed so far, the amount of closure time youth centres saw, and what services they could still provide last year.

The ongoing effects of the crisis on councils means the full data I have requested isn’t yet available from all areas of London. But, from responses so far, we can see that almost every council has been forced to drastically reduce face-to-face contact time and move services online.

Key findings on lockdowns and budgets:

• The running total of youth centre closure days from March 2020 until December, is over 12,000 days, or more than 33 years.
• Council youth service levels have been dramatically reduced compared with normal years, with an average service level of 62 per cent reported.
• Budgets are still squeezed: from 15 councils reporting, at least a further £2 million will be lost from upcoming council budgets 2021-22.

Councils told me they have struggled to keep young people engaged and even aware of what’s on offer. Conversely, many young people who rely on the lifeline of youth services don’t have the means, either in the form of laptops, Wi-Fi or private home space, to access what councils have been capable of providing.

I hope that the Mayor and central Government recognise the awful situation for London’s youth services and young people in light of the pandemic and the damaging legacy of austerity.

Additional, urgent funding is needed, to support youth services in the difficult years ahead.

The damage caused by this lost year of youth work cannot be allowed to cause permanent harm to the lives of our young people.