Closing youth clubs led to fall in GCSEs and rise in crime, report finds

NW
The closure of youth clubs and services has had much more severe consequences than previously understood, new research has found.

Not only did young people do worse in their GCSEs but there was also a sharp increase in criminal offending - and it was worse for those children from poorer backgrounds and neighbourhoods, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) research.

One man who knows at first-hand the importance of youth clubs and the impact their loss has on young people is Ant Olaseinde.

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His anti knife-crime charity Always An Alternative, works with young people who are most at risk and aims to show them that they do have different options in life no matter what their situation.

Ant, who is based in Sheffield, said the loss of services for children was always clear to those working in the sector but it has been left to charities to fill the gap.

The findings of the survey coincide with a more recent surge in knife crime across his home city. Official data shows a steady rise in violent crime, yet a lack of comprehensive reporting exposed significant gaps in how the police track and address the issue.

Always An Alternative recently launched a mobile youth club which travels to some of Sheffield's most challenged neighbourhoods and is open to everyone.

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Ant said: “We needed better support for young people to steer them away from violence and gang involvement.

"Evidence is now unfolding that the closure of youth clubs has had a negative impact on young people's education, with the worst GCSE results since closures in 2010.

"That is combined with an increase in crime - and trying to tackle antisocial behaviour costs £3 for every £1 saved from closing youth clubs.

"Our charity Always An Alternative created its mobile youth club to ensure young people in every community gets the opportunity to receive any advice and support that they may need."

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The launch of Always An Alternative's mobile youth clubThe launch of Always An Alternative's mobile youth club
The launch of Always An Alternative's mobile youth club | AAA

Around 30% of youth clubs in London closed between 2010 and 2019 as a result of cuts to local authority funding, the working paper from the IFS said.

Report author Carmen Villa, PhD student at the University of Warwick and enrichment student at the IFS, said: “Youth clubs provide support to teenagers that goes beyond recreation, offering mentorship, structured activities such as sports and music, and a safe space for socialising – resources many teens cannot find elsewhere.

“Teens like and use these clubs: in 2009, 40% of Londoners aged between 11 and 16 attended at least once a week.

“But public spending cuts in the 2010s led to the closure of 30% of youth clubs in London, and this research shows that this directly led to increased offending and worse GCSE outcomes, especially among those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

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“Overall, the societal costs of increased crime and lost education far outweigh the initial savings from youth club closures.”

The research compares offending rates and exam results among teenagers who live in an area where all local youth clubs within a 40-minute walk closed with those among teenagers whose nearest youth club stayed open.

Teenagers whose nearest youth club was closed went on to do worse in school, the study concluded.

Young people who lost access to a nearby youth club performed worse in their GCSE exams – a decline of roughly half a grade in one subject.

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Test scores fell even more for pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds – who performed roughly more than a grade worse in one subject.

The IFS paper also found that those who lost access to a youth club were 14% more likely to engage in criminal activity in the six years following closure.

The offending rate – the proportion of residents aged 10 to 17 who commit a crime each year – went from 14 per 1,000 to 16 per 1,000.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Youth clubs can play an important role in supporting development and providing a safe space outside of school, and the major cuts to local authority funding over the last decade have been hugely damaging for children and young people.

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“Funding cuts have led to the closure of community centres and Sure Start Children’s Centres, as well as youth clubs, and reduced the capacity of local services to support attendance, mental health and children with special educational needs.”

Arooj Shah, chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: “Youth services provide essential support to young people, providing them with a safe place, trusted relationships, attracting them away from being drawn into negative situations and reducing demand for acute services as a consequence.

“Councils have a statutory duty to provide educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people, yet these services are facing significant challenges for a number of years due to reductions in funding from central government and an increase in demand for child protection services.

“The LGA has been engaging with Government on the Young Futures programme. Sufficient investment into youth services and youth work will enable councils to support the delivery of the Government’s priorities.”

Find out more about Always An Alternative here: https://alwaysanalternative.org.uk/

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