Birmingham youth worker could be replaced with trainee placement students
Dec 10 2009 by Gary Denning, Birmingham Mail
PLANS to replace a full-time, fully-qualified Birmingham youth worker with two low-paid students on trainee placements are set to be discussed by councillors.
The proposal is just one part of a Birmingham City Council push to slash nearly £1 million off the youth services budgets.
The cutbacks were exclusively revealed in the Birmingham Mail in October after documents were leaked via a city MP.
They detailed job cuts to schemes that aim to drive down under-age drinking, drug abuse and teenage pregnancies in some of the city’s poorest areas.
Erdington MP Sion Simon said: “When I first brought this issue to the attention of the public, the council claimed the information was incorrect and said I was scaremongering.
“I am very disappointed to see that the exact same proposals are now being put before councillors.
“I made it clear at the time that any proposed cuts to an already woefully under-funded service were unacceptable. The people of Erdington agree with me and have shown huge support for the campaign to protect youth services.”
The leaked document said the Pype Hayes Community Focus group would close and the Green Door Project on the Wyrley Birch estate would also be under threat.
Green Door provides one-to-one support for 11-25 year olds. Their Get Sorted drop-in provision also provides condoms and pregnancy testing.
The document also said staff would be lost at the Malcolm Locker Centre on the Lyndhurst estate and in the Astral Centre.
The proposals that will be outlined on Monday will confirm job cuts at all of those centres, but will insist that the jobs will be filled again “as soon as possible”.
The briefing, from Erdington’s area youth officer, Jim Shand, will also say: “Across the city, the youth service is being thoroughly reviewed in order to operate within the new financial constraints.”
The proposals will be outlined at the Erdington Constituency committee meeting on Monday evening, at Stockland Green School, from 7pm.
