A Vision for Youth Work in England to 2020

The National Youth Agency has published a Vision for Youth Work in England to 2020. Key points include that:

  • In 2020 every young person will have access to high quality youth work in their community, including open access provision as well as targeted opportunities that engage groups and individuals with specific needs
  • The youth work offer will be clearly educational and provide young people with opportunities to engage locally, nationally, and internationally with others face to face and/ or through social media
  • Young people will have the opportunity to influence the decision-making processes in the organisations that deliver services to them and in local democratic structures, playing roles in commissioning, scrutiny and audit and direct control of budgets
  • National government will play a critical role in facilitating business/corporate engagement in supporting youth wok and establishing mechanisms for social investment, such as a recommended budget equivalent of 10% of the cost of youth unemployment as the payment mechanism for social impact bonds specifically for youth work
  • 20 of the FTSE 100 companies should invest in high profile youth work programmes and bodies such as the CBI, Business in the Community and Chambers of Commerce should promote the value for business of such investment
  • Employers will require all youth workers to undertake JNC approved qualifications relevant to their roles and responsibilities and a register of youth workers will be introduced.

To download the report visit www.nya.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/NYA-A-Vision-for-Youth-final-low-res.pdf.