Careers service faces meltdown

Government fumbling of the transition to a new all-age National Careers Service has left local offices of the Connexions youth advisory and careers service to close or be cut back as cash-strapped councils look for savings.

Up to 8,000 careers guidance workers could lose their jobs and the meltdown is adding to concerns about a “lost generation”.

Under the Education Bill, responsibility for most careers guidance for young people will shift from local authorities to schools next year. They will have a statutory duty to secure “independent” and “impartial” guidance from a potential range of providers, but are not being given more money to pay for it.

And there are fears the new national service will be phone and web-based, rather than offering face-to-face advice as now.

But many authorities are closing down their Connexions services already according to the Institute of Career Guidance. And a survey by the UNISON public services union has found that half of the authorities were performing poorly in terms of their compliance with statutory duties.

In Lincolnshire, half of the Connexions jobs are at risk. That, together with the threat of youth service and other cuts, including to employees’ service conditions, led to industrial action ballots by UNISON, and the Unite and GMB unions last month.

UNISON members agreed to work to rule, extending action already being taken in adult social care.