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Fresh uncertainty for youth services
YOUTH centres in Buckinghamshire are facing a new wave of uncertainty about their future, as county council plans for contracting out youth services have been put on hold.
We reported in May that youth staff and support workers were facing uncertainty about their jobs after Bucks County Council's youth services
department announced its proposal to 'commission' – or contract out – most of its youth club provision in a bid to make savings.
At the time, a letter sent out to staff warned: "Due to the nature of the restructure, almost all posts in the current structure are defined as 'at risk'."
A consultation document invited staff to express an interest in voluntary redundancy.
The document proposed retaining only two of its existing youth centres, in Aylesbury and High Wycombe, under county council control, meaning that the running of other youth clubs, including Buckingham and Winslow, would be put out to tender.
It was expected that the new arrangements would come into force next April.
Now staff have received an email from operations manager Laura Nankin to say that BCC has had "to delay the process for commissioning universal youth services until we have a clearer idea about how any future funding cuts may affect the service".
An email to the same effect has been sent out to tenderers, apologising for the inconvenience.
A youth service source, who did not wish to be named, said: "It's up in the air again. All this is going to do is create further uncertainty for the staff and young people of this area."
Buckingham town councillor Robin Stuchbury, who is a trustee of Buckingham Youth Centre said: "My concern is, where there was clarity, now there's uncertainty. While I disagreed with where they were going,
now I don't know where they're going.
"It could be good news or it could be even worse for youth services."
Buckinghamshire's cabinet member for education, Steven Adams, said: "I can confirm the commissioning process for our youth services has been delayed and will remain on hold until we have more certainty about future funding.
"We are living through exceptionally tough financial times, which we have not seen the end of yet, and until we know more about how future cuts will affect services, we simply cannot continue with the outsourcing process.
"I appreciate this is a difficult and unsettling time for everyone
involved in the service, but hope we can continue to count on our staff's goodwill and commitment as we work towards a more certain future."
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Weather for Buckingham
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
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