Youth Service - Charging Policy

Youth Service - Charging Policy

September 2012

Bath & North East Somerset Council

Youth Service – Charging Policy

Background

The Youth Service has in recent years enhanced its building facilities and initiated projects that are beyond the previous scope of hiring out a Youth Hub. The wider range of facilities and services available has required a comprehensive review of the charges that the Service makes and the policy that underpins these charges.

This Policy covers the following areas where charging is made:

· Lettings of Hubs (not including lease arrangements)

· Specialist building facilities and fixtures

· Use of equipment at Hubs

· Other services provided by projects or the Youth Service

· Project charges to young people

The worker responsible for each Youth Hub, in consultation with their manager, will take the lead on setting the charges for all of the above in respect of that Youth Hub unless stated below. Whilst charges may differ between Youth Hubs, they will all fall within the overarching parameters of this policy.

Lettings of Hubs

The Youth Service has a number of buildings spread across the Council which are available for hire by other organisations at times outside of the core service provision.

There are four reasons to offer buildings as potential spaces for use.

· Enhance the provision for young people in the area.

· Maximise the potential of the building resource.

· Generate income for the Project.

· Encourage buildings to become more self sustainable

In maximising the use of the Service’s buildings, the primary objective is to recover a significant element of the core costs and move towards self sustainability.

The income generated through lettings will be allocated to each individual centre to:

· Cover the premises costs which occur due to the additional usage and to meet income generation targets set as part of the annual budget reviews.

· Cover the costs of the related expenditure.

· Supplement the programme of activities for young people at the premises accruing the income.

Quarterly reports on lettings income will be circulated to Building Managers and their Line Managers for checking that all lettings are accounted for and income is being collected.

Charges for rooms and hard play area:

The Service will strive to have standardised charges across its buildings, with a written rationale for differences (i.e. 5 a side courts of varying standards). Initially base rates for each individual area in a building (rooms and hard play area) will be set and reviewed by the worker at Youth Hub on an annual basis. These will be compared and rationalised centrally before being publicised.

Reasonable access to toilets and car parking will be included in the charge.

Calculating charges for rooms:

· All base charges will be per hour and cover Monday to Friday (excluding Public Holidays) between the hours of 7am and midnight.

· Use on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays between 7am and midnight will be the base cost x 1.25 and rounded to the nearest 5p.

Calculating charges for Hard play areas

· Base charge per hour will cover day light hours.

· Use when floodlights are required (need to define) will be the base charge x 1.5

Concession rates

No charge will be made for:

· Meetings involving the Youth Service

· 1:1 work with young people by Connexions staff provided it is responsive, the space being used is available and there are no key holding issues as the building is open. Timeout will be made available during office hours (9am to 4 pm) at a cost of £10 per session to cover the key holding.

Non-standard charges

· Usage agreed by The Principal Youth Officer to projects or organisations which require assistance at the start due to limited financial resources. The Principal Youth Officer will detail the key points taken into account for a reduced fee being charged or free lettings to ensure a fair and consistent approach.

· At Peasedown and Riverside, Connexions as lease holders of part of the building will pay a reduced cost for the meeting room of £8 for 1:1 staff meetings i.e. supervision and PDR’s

Cost Price charges will cover:

· Elections will be charged at the costs incurred by the Service. As these uses are statutory, they will take precedence over other lettings.

Concession – 30% charge

· Those entitled to a 50% concession, who block book for the year (minimum 40 weeks) will get a reduction on the rooms/areas that are included on the block booking.

Concession – 50% charge

· B&NES Councillors

· Blood Donor sessions

· Voluntary Organisations. The definition being - ‘A voluntary sector group is a constituted ‘not for profit' organisation which is under the direction and management of a voluntary management committee, trustees or board of directors and wholly independent of the private or statutory sector'.

· Other areas of the Council & PCT

· Union meetings (B&NES Council staff Unions)

Regulations for use

The regulations for lettings appear on the reverse of the application form.

Key holding arrangements will vary. Where a user groups is given keys to the building (a trust letting), they will be liable for any charges incurred if the alarm system is activated due to an operator error. For occasional lets, there may be an additional charge for key holding/caretaking. Key holding charges to be added to base cost where applicable. Minimum hours paid to be confirmed.

Hirers who have become regular users for a particular day/time will be given first option on use of that particular day/time at the start of a financial year.

Specialist building facilities and fixtures

Youth Hubs with specialist facilities

The charge for specialist facilities should be calculated to include, where appropriate:

· the hire of the room,

· the depreciation costs of the equipment,

· the cost of training users of the equipment

· the cost of staff to oversee the use of the equipment

· an administrative fee to co-ordinate the bookings

Use of equipment at Hubs

The Service has portable equipment that is available for use by external users.

The charges for standard pieces of equipment available across the Service will be set centrally taking into account the depreciation costs.

The charge for equipment available at specific centres only will be set by the Youth Hub and cover the costs of equipment depreciation and training on its use.

Income from the hire of this equipment will be coded to a central code. These funds will be used to replace or upgrade equipment which becomes damaged. Where upgrades are required, the budget holder will be responsible for allocating the funding available.

Other services provided by projects or the Youth Service

There are other opportunities for income generation, which do not fit into the other categories above.

Kayak project – Kayaking sessions

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award - Entry to the scheme

Mobile Bus – Youth work sessions

Training – Courses

Youth Work – tailored packages for a specialist service

The charge for each of these will need to be done on an individual basis and should include, where appropriate the costs of:

· staffing

· premises

· administration and support services

· equipment hire or depreciation

· management fees

· programme & material costs

Project charges to young people.

It is not practical for all projects to agree a single charge to access the project, nor would it be fair, since different projects offer different facilities and activities. Some projects like the youth mobile and detached projects find it very difficult to charge an “entry” fee.

The Youth Worker, in consultation with their Line Manager, should make a decision on what to charge, or not to charge. Charging is encouraged, exceptional circumstances should be shown to support an argument in favour of a decision against charging.

When deciding on an entry fee, the following should be observed:

· Clear statement of the costs to enter the facility

· Stated guidelines on what happens if a young person is unable to pay ( see appendix one)

· What the entrance fee entitles you to: i.e. access internet, programmed activities for that evening, food

Items that should be charged for:

· Coffee bar (although it may be appropriate to offer a free cup of tea as a welcome, or a chocolate bar as a reward at times, etc)

· Trips – often subsidised, occasionally free, but only if the funding for the project expects it to be so.

· Residentials - often subsidised, occasionally free, but only if the funding for the project insists that charging is not allowed

The following are reasons for charging:

· To raise income

· To develop a sense of paying for what you get

· To foster ownership of a project

· To show commitment to the project/activity

Income generated at youth project

Any income generated through entry fees and coffee bar should be used to support the youth club program. How this money is spent should be agreed by the young people who attend the youth centre. The income should be displayed quarterly on the notice board of the youth centre so everyone can see what has been raised and have an opportunity to comment on how it should be used. Remember to ensure that young people understand that this money can not be taken forward from one financial year to another.

Charging policy

Appendix One

Guidelines if a young person is unable to pay the entry fee

· Take the young person to a confidential space

· Establish why the young person is unable to pay

· Establish that you feel this is a genuine reason

· Explain the importance of paying subs

· If the young person is still unable to pay agree the following options with them:

- an agreed amount that they can afford each week

- that they receive free entry until their circumstances change

- agree that they can pay what they owe next week record this in the “subs “ owing book*

*Often clubs have a system that young people can owe one week subs and then they can’t come in until they clear the debt. This however can be complicated to run if not all subs owing are written down correctly. Young people should not be denied access to youth provision simply because they do not have money.