Targeted youth support: Narrowing scope post Decision Point 2
| Provider | Training and Development Agency |
|---|---|
| Topics | Targeted youth support |
| Type | Emerging practice |
| Date | February 2007 |
| Region | London |
Overview
At the same time as working on its targeted youth support pathfinder, Southwark was carrying out an overall restructure and integration of its services. Initially it was expected that the restructure would cover eight areas which would reflect community learning networks centered around schools. The area set for the pathfinder scope was one of these eight areas. However, during the TYS change process the new integrated structure was confirmed around four localities, each making up an area double the size of the initial scope.
Purpose of narrowing scope
The authority's new integrated services will commission and analyse need on three levels:
- Authority wide
- Within the four localities
- At individual or cluster level
The system will be matrix managed, with children's partnership coordinators commissioning services from the various sectors.
To fit in with this bigger picture, the TYS pathfinder was faced with a choice to expand its scope to Rotherhithe and Bermondsey or to contract it to cluster level. Bearing in mind the challenge of getting real buy in for the project, the TYS team felt it would be easier to achieve commitment from staff at cluster level. It decided to focus on the smallest group that would commission services a cluster with one secondary school, Bacon's College, at its centre.
Results
This new focus made it even more critical that schools were properly engaged, and running the Develop stage of the change process over the summer made this difficult. It meant the TYS team had to push hard for at least some of work to be completed before schools broke up. Even so, real engagement with schools won't come until their community learning network meetings in the autumn.
The change of scope had little other impact on the TYS project, as it still needed the strategic people to drive the project and encourage the change teams, and it was learning generic lessons from existing multi-agency projects.
Click to go back to the process case studies for the Develop stage.
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