The advice needs of young people

Youth Access have published a report based on a literature review of research into young people's access to advice.
 
The report is mainly based on analysis of the data collected as part of the Legal Services Research Centre's Civil and Social Justice Survey. Using that information Youth Access estimates that:

• 16-24 year-olds will experience at least 2.3 million rights-related problems requiring advice
• More than a quarter of these problems will be experienced by young people who are not in employment, education or training
• Young people will not even seek advice in relation to around half of their problems - about 1.15 million problems each year
• A further 200,000 problems will result in young people trying, but failing to obtain advice, often because there is no service able to help them.
• In all, considerably fewer than half of all young people with serious social welfare problems will actually manage to obtain advice - leaving at least a million of our most vulnerable citizens to cope with their problems unassisted each year

The report goes on to explore issues relating to access to advice for young people. Interestingly, despite being major users of the internet, young people do not prefer it as a means of accessing advice. They tend to prefer face-to-face advice, although the telephone is an important means of access for those who face obstacles to accessing face-to-face advice.
 
In relation to face-to face advice, there is evidence to suggest that it is effective when provided alongside other support services for young people. However, Youth Access members report that there needs to be a clear separation between the advice and the other activities.
 
There is evidence that young people are reluctant to use mainstream advice services (such as solicitors or CABx), however, there is some evidence to suggest that where a mainstream organisation sets up a dedicated young people's service that is integrated with other local services for young people, it presents less of a barrier to access.
 
The report states that ideally, services should be:

• near public transport links;
• visible, even prominent (eg shopfront) but discreet (eg on side street from the main road;
• where young people spend time (eg near a high street or in a shopping centre);
• in a safe location where young people will not feel threatened;
• near other services young people need or already access and
• away from adults and authorities in a location which "belongs" to young people

The report concludes by saying that since an earlier (2002) report highlighted the need for closer working relationships between youth professionals and mainstream legal advice services, there have been a number of successful initiatives which enable young people to get advice from an appropriately qualified source. However, such initiatives require considerable time and effort to develop and need to be rolled out further.
 
You can read the report here: Young people's access to advice - the evidence