Youth Services Are Improving – Ofsted

The quality of youth services is gradually improving according to a new report published by Ofsted. Building on the best: overview of local authority youth services 2005-06 reveals that a greater proportion of youth services were judged as good or better in 2005/06 than in previous years.

During the year Ofsted inspected a total of 33 youth services, as part of the joint area review programme of local authority children’s services. Of those inspected, 15 were judged to be good or better, 11 were adequate and seven were inadequate.

The strongest youth service inspected was Doncaster which was judged ‘outstanding’. Youth services from Coventry, Devon, Enfield, Hounslow, Isle of Wight, Milton Keynes, North Somerset, Rotherham, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Wakefield, Windsor and Maidenhead and the Wirral were all judged to be ‘good’.

The report emphasises the need for strong leadership as a key factor in bringing about improvement. The most successful services have a clear vision for youth work and match their resources effectively to meet local needs and circumstances.

Inspectors found that resources and quality are closely linked. Some councils have increased their youth service budget resulting in substantial benefits to the service they provide.  However some local authorities continue to expect too much of youth services without backing this expectation with the necessary funding.

Flo Hadley, Divisional Manager for Ofsted’s Children’s Services Inspection Division, said: “Youth services have a vital role to play in the community. The best services recognise that youth workers are essential to engage young people, including those with more challenging attitudes and behaviour. Not all local areas recognise this.”

Local authority youth services are inspected as part of the three-year programme of joint area reviews that began in September 2005. This report provides an overview of their performance in 2005/06. It is set against the backdrop of considerable organisational change in local authorities, and the Government’s vision for youth work as set out in Youth matters: next steps. The report draws attention to the factors most likely to secure high quality youth work provision within new and emerging arrangements.