South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 03/03/2016

South Gloucestershire Council’s Children and Young People Committee has agreed to extend the Positive Activities Subsidy (PAS) for a further three years.

This will provide £250,000 in year one, £225,000 in year two and £150,000 in year three. The scheme will run from 1 April 2016 until 31 March 2019.

In addition, members agreed to continued investment in Priority Neighbourhoods and provision for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities of £230,000 a year for the next three years.

This brings the total funding in year one to £480,000, £455,000 in year two and £380,000 in year three of the scheme. And they approved £11,000 funding from April 2017 for a further priority neighbourhood session in Yate

Interim funding will be allocated to some existing youth service providers from 1 April 2016 from the available funds.

The criteria and process for allocating future funds will be confirmed in the coming months.

PAS was established in April 2013 to support community-based organisations in providing a wide range of positive activities for young people.

In November, the committee asked officers to consult young people, carers and parents, service providers and the wider community on their views of the scheme and what the potential impact might be of not extending the scheme after 31 March 2016.

Councillor Jon Hunt, Chair of the Children and Young People Committee, said: “We are very pleased that so many people took part in the consultation and want to thank all those who did so. We have looked very closely at what they had to say about the Positive Activities Subsidy and all the youth activities it has supported.

“The need to find a further £35 million in savings by 2019/20 means that we have to look closely at all areas of council expenditure to ensure that every pound is spent wisely and effectively. We said that we would protect funding for youth provision in priority neighbourhoods and for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities.

“I’m delighted that we have also been able to find the funding to enable us to extend PAS for a further three years and continue support for youth services.”

Officers were also asked to explore alternative models of future youth services provision in consultation with service providers.