From the Colchester Daily Gazette:
A DISPUTE is raging over the redundancy payouts for Connexions staff who are losing their jobs after the youth service was scrapped.
As many as 160 jobs and 12 centres are being scrapped….
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…….. Connexions co-ordinates youth services and support specifically for 13 to 19-year-olds. There are 12 Connexions centres in Essex: in Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Canvey, Chelmsford, Clacton, Colchester, Harlow, Loughton, Maldon, Rayleigh and Saffron Walden. The loss of the Government?s area-based grant led county councillor responsible for education, Stephen Castle, to recommend the service be abolished late last year……
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…..The council has agreed to fund the service until the end of the school year, and agreed to ?1.5million extra to last until a different arrangement with schools begins in September……
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……The decision to scrap the service is expected to be challenged again by Liberal Democrats on Essex County Council later this month. Opposition leader Tom Smith-Hughes, speaking at a meeting of the cabinet, said: ?We still have concerns about Connexions.?
Full article here.