Service cuts may expose rural youth to county lines
A super serious issue but paper thin causality to justify the assertion about the county lines element at the heart of this story methinks…The issues around mental health and life chances which it introduces, in terms of unthought about pressures facing you people in rural settings are very important however.
A lack of funding for rural youth work in England is leaving young people exposed to the dangers of county lines drug-dealing gangs, it is claimed.
The amount spent per head on youth work for 11- to 19-year-olds in rural England, £47, is 25% less than in urban areas, and half the level a decade ago.
The National Youth Agency said rural employment prospects and mental-health support access were also a concern.
The government said it had given youth-work charities £100m over the pandemic.
But the National Youth Agency is calling for it to implement a long-term spending plan.
‘Increasing trend’
County-lines gangs often use vulnerable children to help them bring illegal drugs into areas across the UK – and move money out.
The National Youth Agency said it had seen an “increasing trend” for young people in county towns and rural areas to be targeted.
Youth workers were vital in protecting those at risk by providing a known and trusted adult, chief executive Leigh Middleton told BBC News.
But, he added: “As local authority budgets have shrunk, [resources have] gone to our towns and cities.”