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November 2009 FAQ

Integrated Young People’s Support Services (IYPSS)

Consultation/Update Event November 2009

At the Staff Consultation/Update event held in November 2009, we asked staff to raise any questions or queries they had in relation to IYPSS and future arrangements.  Staff responded by presenting us with over 80 questions which we have grouped into the following issues:

  • Workforce development
  • Impact on Young People
  • Jobs, pay and conditions of service
  • Connexions
  • Consultation
  • Timeline for change
  • Changes to location of staff
  • IYPSS and Children’s Trust
  • Youth Public Sector Agreement 14 (PSA 14)
  • Working with the Third Sector
  • Youth Offending Team
  • ‘Footprints’
  • Youth Work and Youth Workers
  • IYPSS Service Name
  • Involvement of IYPSS partners
  • Common databases, policies and procedures

Please find our responses below:

Workforce development

We now have an IYPSS workforce development/training plan which staff can access at: www.mywalsall.org/professional.  This is for both local authority staff and those employed by other agencies depending on need and availability

There is a real need to be clear of the skills mix required for future planning and to recognise the existing skills base of staff in all contributing services and areas, both part time and full time.

Understanding of roles and culture change will need to be supported by the development of a common language, and networking will be the key to understanding the roles that other members of staff play in IYPSS.  It is our intention to have regular staff meetings to support this activity and culture change.  The first of these meeting was on 18 December 2009 and future meetings are currently being planned on a quarterly basis.

We have decided not to develop a local generic IYPSS qualification and will await the outcome of the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s consultation around the idea of a youth professional status.

Skilled Youth workers, youth justice and Connexions staff are still needed to high quality deliver services across Walsall.

Impact on Young People

The impact on the young people of Walsall should and will be the drive to develop IYPSS.

Any targets, should they be existing or new, will need to support our priorities for young people and make a difference, as should any activity.  If we get things wrong we will need to review and change as appropriate – we need to improve outcomes for young people.

Targets (if the right ones) should not reduce young people’s fun and enjoyment when learning.  Fun, of course, can aid effective learning and achievement.

We will need to ensure all services are designed around needs of young people, including opening times and via the commissioning of providers, for example, of services for young people who are Not in Education, Employment of Training (NEET).

Jobs, pay and conditions of service

The introduction of IYPSS is not driven by the requirement to cut jobs nor will it result in any pay freezes in itself.  We have developed a ‘generic pay scale’ for two of the three strategic leads (the Connexions provider will determine the grade and pay of the IAG strategic lead) but have no plans in place or being developed to do the same for practitioners.

We are still developing the roles and responsibilities of what we are currently calling ‘team leaders’ and ‘senior team leaders’ and we will update staff at a later date.

Service and staff hours will reflect the requirement necessary to meet the needs of young people.  The new Connexions contract will expect Connexions staff to be deployed flexibly to ensure access to services for young people.

Youth work staff already work evenings and weekends.  Some youth justice staff may work extended hours, while others will work at evenings, weekends and bank holidays.  IAG staff also work outside ‘normal’ hours when required.

Any future changes to job descriptions (in addition to Head of IYPSS and three strategic lead posts) are most likely to focus on team/senior team leader roles and potentially some members of Targeted Youth Support (TYS) teams.

There are no plans to change the pay and conditions of delivery staff.  However, Walsall Council is committed to the single status process.

Connexions

The existing contract for Connexions may be extended.  This decision will be informed by the progress and initial outcome of the related commissioning process.  Tenders have now been received and bids are being assessed.

The new Connexions provider will employ/provide the new IAG strategic lead, who will report to the Head of IYPSS.

The Connexions tendering process will determine who the provider is but not the IYPSS structure, although Connexions will be an integral part of the IYPSS structure.

Consultation

All Staff (both part-time and full-time), including on occasions those from the third sector, have been involved in the consultations which were held throughout 2009, including the staff workshop on 12 November 2009.  Continued staff involvement will be vital in shaping and delivering the IYPSS agenda.

A draft structure for consultation will be presented to the Unions at the Joint Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JNCC) meeting on 6 January 2010.

All staff will have the opportunity to shape Walsall’s Youth Offer including at our first all IYPSS staff meeting on 18 December 2009.  This process will involve the third sector and, importantly, young people.

Timeline

An updated timeline for the development and implementation of IYPSS will be available at 18 December IYPSS staff meeting and will appear on this website in the near future.

Staff relocation

At present, there is no co-location or re-location strategy for IYPSS.  We will consider the co-location/re-location of staff when and where opportunities arise but will not focus on this activity.

A long term Youth Capital Strategy is to be developed, starting in January 2010.

There is no intention, certainly at this stage, to re-locate the Youth Offending Team (YOT).

The ideal arrangement is of course that staff whose delivery focus is in a particular footprint will also be located within their footprint area.

We may consider the development of one-stop shops and/or Young People Information Centres (YPICs) where there are opportunities.  This will be considered as part of the development of the youth capital strategy.

IYPSS and Children’s Trust

It is proposed that the Youth Opinions Unite (YOU) team will be formally line managed within the Children's Trust management structure from January 2010.  IYPSS is already and will continue to be part of the wider Children’s Trust arrangements.

Youth Public Sector Agreement 14

For further details go to www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr_csr07_psa14.pdf

Third Sector Involvement

The third sector is represented on the IYPSS Project Board and were involved in the appointment of the Head of IYPSS.  Third sector staff will also be invited to the all IYPSS quarterly staff meetings and will continue to be involved in developing Walsall’s Youth Offer.

We will continue to involve the sector in all levels of the commissioning of Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) and Youth Service, third sector/Community Association allocations.

The majority of our Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) and Youth Capital Fund (YCF) have been allocated this financial year to the third sector/third sector young people (63% of YOF and 83% of YCF).

Youth Offending Team

We are proposing to continue to have centrally managed court and post court services and to identify up to 2 different case workers to focus their work on a particular footprint.

We will need to consider and will consult on the arrangements for Family Intervention Programme (FIP).

Prevention and targeted work will need to link to the footprint arrangements.  Those with a particular footprint focus would most likely be managed within that footprint arrangement.  Any future Youth Inclusion and Support Panels (YISP) would need to be considered as part the developing PAYP commissioning arrangements.

Footprints

The three footprints will be:

  • West
  • Central North
  • South and East.

Each footprint will encompass two Neighbourhood Management Areas which will be replacing the existing Local Neighbourhood Partnerships (LNP) from March 2010.  Children Area Partnerships (CAPs) and community action tasking forums will continue, within this structure.

An agreed resource model based on the needs of young people will determine the resources/numbers and types of staff allocated to each footprint.

Staff in each footprint will be line managed by managers in the respective footprint.  These will be ‘real’ arrangements.

It is to be determined what activities/resources are to be centrally managed e.g. Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities (LDD).

All future arrangements will have to take into account current and future budget pressures.

Youth Work and Youth Workers

There has been an historical, actual or perceived negative reputation of youth workers/youth work which will have to be addressed and challenged by the service as a whole in order to change people’s viewpoint.

Youth workers will continue to have a role within the IAG service.

All three services, working together will be able to improve the effectiveness of a range of activities including detached work.

IYPSS Service Name

Staff raised the issue of problems they were encountering when answering the telephones in the agreed manner.  We have now shortened the service title and will revisit the issue as soon as a new name for IYPSS has been agreed.  It is imperative that any new name helps to promote the service and ensure that young people understand what IYPSS is.  The young people of the IYPSS ‘Shadow Board’ are considering this issue and further information will be available as soon as possible.

Involvement of IYPSS partners

IYPSS partner organisations are represented on the project board.  We held two wider stakeholders events, one in each of October and November, which were well attended.

We need to consult with a wide range of parties and partners in IYPSS activity to ensure that they are fully engaged with the IYPSS agenda if we are successful.

Common databases, policies and procedures

Common policies and procedures will be developed incrementally.  Developing a common database is an ambition but will be very challenging to achieve.

We must ensure that we share all relevant information between our services consistently and within the requirements of the data protection act, but without using this as an excuse not to share information.

The culture change referred to above will support this area of development as will the development and maintenance of key relationships.

This page was last updated on 08 January 2010