Councils shun alternative providers of youth services

8 Aug 11
Councils are failing to effectively commission young people's services by ignoring charities and other providers and not collaborating with each other, inspectors warned today.

By Lucy Phillips | 9 August 2011

Councils are failing to effectively commission young people’s services by ignoring charities and other providers and not collaborating with each other, inspectors warned today.


A report by Ofsted found local authorities were giving insufficient consideration to voluntary and community organisations, charities and other arms of the public sector such as social landlords to run the services, which range from education and arts activities to mental health and substance misuse programmes.

The watchdog studied the commissioning of the services in 12 local authorities. It found that only five councils had ‘sufficiently well-established’ commissioning arrangements in place for youth services. Of these, only two had worked in collaboration with neighbouring authorities to carry out joint commissioning.

As part of wider government reforms to public service provision, local authorities have been tasked with reviewing their in-house support for young people and seeking more efficient provision from other sectors.

The report, An evaluation of approaches to commissioning young people’s services, notes the ‘challenging financial climate’ facing local authorities, with most of the ones visited by inspectors planning reductions in staff related to youth support.

‘The posts pivotal to securing commissioning were reducing in number in the local authorities visited. In too many instances, the officers assigned to manage a portfolio of youth services work were inexperienced in commissioning processes. Innovative examples of contract design were seldom in evidence,’ says the report.

Commenting on the findings,  Ofsted chief inspector Miriam Rosen said: ‘Youth services play a vital role in young people’s educational and social development. Different approaches to commissioning services bring different advantages, however the best approach should reflect local circumstances and priorities, and take account of existing relationships, available resources and geography.

‘Local authorities should take a lead role in creating a shared approach to commissioning. In a time of rapid change and reducing budget, maintaining local networks of practitioners and other local organisations will be extremely valuable.’

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