Following the First Minister’s announcement today (Thursday 10 September), we can confirm that existing guidance for the youth work sector is unaffected by the new rules.
Guidance to support the phased renewal of youth work services has now been updated to support the reintroduction of indoor delivery. Download updated guidance.
The update stipulates that carefully controlled groupwork activities can now resume, up to a maximum of 30 children, young people and youth workers. The expectation is that young people aged 12 and over should still maintain physical distancing, while organisations may wish to consider beginning indoor activities with smaller groups to manage the distancing requirements.
Youth work organisations should also consider, as part of their overall risk assessment, whether their previous delivery model should be adjusted to reduce risks involved. That could mean taking on a blended delivery approach (some remote or virtual and some face-to-face), or reducing the time spent indoors, utilising any outdoor space where possible or practical.
Although there is no specific restriction on the number of groups a youth worker could support, youth workers should take into consideration how many households they are meeting up with in a day and look to minimise the risk to themselves and family by restricting this where possible.
This guidance forms part of a series of resources YouthLink Scotland is working on alongside the Youth Work Covid-19 Recovery Group to help youth work organisations navigate the Scottish Government’s route map out of lockdown.