Knife crime, gang warfare on estates, ‘the feral youths ruling our streets’, ‘generation ASBO’, ‘hug a hoodie’ – issues related to young people, particularly negative ones, are constantly in the headlines. UNICEF’s report on child poverty, published in February this year, reinforced this widespread dismay at the state of the youth population. It highlighted that Britain has some of the unhappiest adolescents in the western world, ranking it at the bottom of their child wellbeing assessment.
Why is this the case, and what can be done to improve the lot of Britain’s young people? The Treasury has been trying to find out, through its review of children and young people’s services. Due to report in the autumn, it will publish a 10-year strategy following a wide-ranging consultation and review of existing evidence.
Clearly, the impetus for the review is also related to the Treasury’s core business – the economic impact of the youth population, both now and in the future. An interim report published in January estimated that the additional lifetime costs of being NEET (not in education, employment or training) at age 16 to 18 are around £8.1bn in terms of public finance; the estimated cost of under-18 pregnancies to the NHS alone is £63m a year.
So what should the review’s priorities be? Foyers might help us get towards an answer. Having been set up in the early 1990s to tackle high youth unemployment by addressing the no home, no job, no home-cycle among 16 to 25-year-olds, the 130 Foyers in the UK now find themselves dealing with many more complex problems. After 15 years of working with young people from a range of backgrounds, from young offenders to care leavers to young people at risk due to overcrowding or family breakdown, Foyer staff encounter the sheer complexity of young people’s needs on a daily basis. They report that the average age of their residents is declining, while at the same time their needs are increasingly acute, with mental health needs among the most prevalent.
Issues relating to self esteem and low-level depression, as highlighted by UNICEF, are just as important to the economy as employment and training opportunities. Indeed, tackling these is crucial if young people are able to sustain further learning, training and employment. Recent research conducted by the Young Foundation found that many young people who are NEET emphasise the lack of careers advice they received in school; but many more said that their main barrier is themselves – their own lack of confidence and/or negative attitudes.
An effective system can only arise when service providers work towards shared objectives that tackle young people’s needs holistically. The youth green paper published by the Department for Education and Skills in 2005 proposed the creation of a ‘trusted adult’ or ‘lead professional’ to assist young people in need of targeted support, with the task of navigating their way through accessing a myriad of services.
However, young people, parents and providers, not to mention those holding the purse strings in Whitehall, would see the benefits of support which treats young people as people, not as a set of targets to be met or issues to be addressed.
As we move into a new political era, it may seem strange to hark back to the plea for ‘joined-up government’ used so frequently at the end of the 1990s. But if we are to ensure that all young people have the opportunities they need to develop a positive future for themselves and for society at large, this must be at the heart of the Treasury’s strategy.