“With a triple whammy of austerity, falling social mobility and a reduction in decently paid jobs, a generation of young people are being failed.”
Jon Trickett MP
By Jon Trickett MP
A generation of young people are being failed. The triple whammy of austerity, falling social mobility and a reduction in decently paid jobs, is the backdrop from which we must examine the experience of young people in Britain today.
There has been a real term cut of £650 billion in funding for youth services since 2010 according to the House of Commons Library. According to the YMCA, some local authorities have had bigger cuts than others which reveals the geographic nature of how the cuts fall. For example, Durham has seen a 95% cut since 2010-2011 with average spending per young person £9.16. Whereas the City of London has only seen a cut of 70% since 2010, with average spending per young person £493.67.
Between 2011-12 and 2022-23, the number of youth centres operated by local authorities fell by 53% in England, from 917 to 427. And, since 2012-13, there has been a 35% reduction in full-time equivalent youth workers employed by local authorities in England.
On top of this, local councils have seen huge cuts to central government funding, with my local authority, Wakefield, seeing a real terms cut of 40.4% since 2015 despite the added pressure for services.
Vital services have been taken away but the government has also kicked away the ladder of opportunity for many young people. There are now very few opportunities for young people growing up in the most deprived areas in the UK, particularly the further away from London they live.
The Tories have deprived state education of the funding it needs. In my Normanton and Hemsworth constituency, the Wakefield District has had nearly £400 cut per pupil from school budgets. Indeed, funding for schools in my area of Yorkshire is £130 less per pupil than the English average.
As an area with the lowest social mobility in the country surely there should be much more investment in our schools and colleges? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Schools in my constituency receive £110 less per pupil in funding than schools in the Prime Minister’s more affluent constituency a few miles to the north.
This has a knock on effect on the jobs available to local people. Our area has fewer “top jobs” than more affluent areas. The landscape for young adults entering the workplace is becoming increasingly bleak.
It is not just about work and school though. I have often spoken to young people and parents in my constituency who say there is nothing for young people to do. Arts, culture and leisure facilities have been a victim of the Tory-government’s austerity drive and other activities are often too expensive or too far away to participate in.
However, young people in my area are hitting back at the government. I praise the comments made by local young people such as Codie Smith, a pro-boxer in Hemsworth, who has called on parliament and local councillors to do more for young people.
There have been a number of issues with anti-social behaviour, mainly because there is nowhere for young people to go. Even our local police recognise that cuts to youth services and other public services has been a factor in the increase in levels of anti-social behaviour.
The police have also seen cuts with the number of Police and Community Support Officers (PCSOs) falling from 16,377 in 2010 to just 8,750, a decrease of almost 50%, and in the last year alone 534 PCSOs have been cut from police forces across the country, with West Yorkshire now having its lowest number since 2015.
Right now young people are being set up to fail. We urgently need to create an environment where young people can thrive. We cannot begin to address this problem unless the government is willing to invest in the futures of young people, especially in deprived areas, whether that is education, jobs or social activities.
We have a promise to the next generation that they will have better lives than their parents. But this promise has been broken by the Tories. I hope that the next government will address the regional and socio-economic divides young people currently face and truly level up opportunities and investment in public services, education and jobs.
- Jon Trickett is the MP for Hemsworth and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and twitter.
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