CROYDON IN CRISIS: Around a dozen youth workers, many based in New Addington, were told they would lose their jobs last week, as Mayor Jason Perry looks to outsource outreach provision to charities and voluntary groups to save some cash. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Ho! Ho! Ho!: there’ll be no Merry Christmas for council youth workers thanks to Scrooge-like Mayor Perry
Like a 21st Century Mr Scrooge, Jason Perry, the council’s Mayor, handed redundancy notices to around a dozen youth workers just a fortnight before Christmas.
In this Croydon version of the Dickens classic, though, it could be the people of New Addington and the rest of the borough who end up being the ones haunted by Perry’s decision.
Inside Croydon understands that the majority of those council staff being laid off are based at the Fieldway Centre in New Addington, which coincidentally Perry and the beancounters in charge of Croydon’s public services fancy flogging off to help pay off some of the borough’s toxic debt.
Some members of the council’s “youth engagement service” might manage to get alternative jobs within the council, and it is possible that others could pick up work through Croydon Voluntary Action, the umbrella organisation which endeavours to co-ordinate the third sector’s efforts around the borough.
The council has not issued any formal statement about laying off staff, though when they have disbanded whole units of council workers before – the graffiti clearing team, which funded itself by undertaking contract work for TfL on the tram network, or the Neighbourhood Safety Officers who patrolled key areas known for drug gangs and knife crime – the outcome has never been a good one for the people of Croydon.
Once again, though, the council leadership has sought to gas-light the people it is supposed to serve by claiming it is introducing these changes at the request of the public.
The council made an announcement today that it is “to change its way of engaging with young people” following a review, with all funding to end in March 2025.
By axing its youth engagement team, Perry’s council perversely suggests, will “maximise help and support for the young people who most need it, in the most effective way”.
They reckon that by outsourcing elements of the work, they can get it done on the cheap.
“Croydon has a strong track record in successfully commissioning partners to deliver targeted services for young people at risk, when and where they need them,” the council said.
“Residents have told the council that they believe trusted community groups are best placed to provide detached youth services. This is particularly when the young people may be at risk of becoming involved in crime or antisocial behaviour.”
Town Hall insiders fear that the council could all too soon come to regret such a statement.
“To ensure that resources are focused where they will have the greatest impact, the council is proposing a new approach, to deliver targeted youth engagement services. This will ensure that the council is not duplicating the work of others. Also, that it is helping those young people who are most in need or at risk.”
The council goes on to state that, effectively, it will replace its youth engagement service with £200,000 in grants – funded by the Home Office and Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit – “to deliver initiatives to help young people stay safe and well”.
According to impotent Mayor Perry, who pockets £82,000 a year, “Croydon has an excellent network of community partners who are highly skilled and experienced in working with young people”.
Perry’s priorities were made clear when he said that he wants to provide youth engagement services in the “most cost-effective way”.
This is all about saving money, and nothing to with saving lives.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
For more information, visit www.say-youth.org
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
There are enough Conservative and Labour politicians to keep the three ghosts very busy this festive season.
Let’s hope that the ghosts haven’t already been sacked as an ‘efficiency saving’.
Happy Christmas Peter, enjoy your plant-based roast, followed by a delicious Quinoa pudding with lashings of oat milk-based custard..
The Christmas spirit you’re full of comes in a bottle marked 40%. That or the stuff farmers spray on the fields
You’re confused old man – my Christmas greetings were for Peter Underwood. They were in the spirit of his post, which made a feeble reference to the holy ghost. Sereiously, best wishes to you and all your party members and here’s to a prosperous New Year too.
His comment referenced the three ghosts in A christmas carol, not the holy ghost.
The most cost effective way to deliver services to children and young people at risk of crime is via preventative services like youth engagement, rather than wait for the proverbial to hit the fan. The borough has such a high level of youth violence, decisions like this are crazy. This just shows they don’t care about the people of Croydon, as if we didn’t already know that.
The tax payers cannot continue to fund projects for feral youths that should be community lead with the aim to instill personal responsibilities