Council has cut youth funding by 97 per cent since 2010

Local authority tops list of 84 worst councils

WEST Berkshire Council has cut youth funding by a staggering 97.6 per cent since 2010 – more than any other local authority in the country.

The YMCA sent Freedom of Information requests to 152 councils in England and of the 84 that responded West Berkshire Council came out worst.

In 2010, the council budgeted £2,853,000 on youth services, but this year it was just £76,000.

That figure is almost £100,000 less than any of the other 84 authorities were planning to spend.

The YMCA described the cuts across the country as “devastating” and “alarming”.

YMCA England and Wales chief executive Denise Hatton said: “Youth services offer a vital lifeline within local communities, providing young people with support, advice and a place to go when they need it most.

“The year-on-year cuts to youth services are not without consequences, and we are already seeing the impact of these cuts in communities across the country.”

Meanwhile, Berkshire Youth chief executive David Seward said the cuts were a “direct result of austerity”.

Councillor Dominic Boeck, West Berkshire Council lead member for education, said ‘significant financial constraints’ led the authority to move to a ‘targeted provision’, instead of the previously free, district-wide provision.

He said many youth centres are now owned by the community or parish councils, with most still running.

And there continues to be council services for young offenders and those misusing substances, young carers and asylum-seeking children.

He said: “It is these vulnerable people who need our support the most.”

Mr Boeck was answering a public question from Caroline ffrench Blake, at a meeting of the executive on October 17, about the level of budget cuts to youth services.

Ms Blake said: “I’m sure that’s right, that the most vulnerable do need the most support.

“But, it’s support across the board that is important.

“As probably everybody knows here, there’s a seven per cent rise in knife crime across the country.

“Do you think this support that is left for local people is sufficient across the board, not just for particular children in need?”

Mr Boeck replied: “The provision of youth services that were previously provided by West Berkshire didn’t disappear, they continued to be delivered.

“Not perhaps to the same extent or depth or volume, but services are being delivered locally to the young people of West Berkshire.”

According to the YMCA, English councils in 2010 spent on average £7.79m on youth services.

Of the 84 that responded to the Freedom of Information requests, the average planned spend was £2.45m, a drop of 69 per cent.

The YMCA said the scale of the cuts had “largely gone unnoticed” until stories of increasing mental health difficulties, rising knife crime and growing loneliness and isolation among young people hit the headlines.

For the purposes of the YMCA research, ‘youth services’ broadly encapsulates two types – ‘open-access’ (or ‘universal’) services including a range of leisure, cultural, sporting and enrichment activities often based around youth centres; and more targeted provision for vulnerable young people, including teenage pregnancy advice, youth justice teams, and drug and alcohol misuse services.