Abstract

Detached youth work is at the most informal end of state sponsored interventions with young people outside school. As such it continues to reflect the core philosophy and principles of the traditions of English youth work, which emphasise voluntary involvement by young people. Detached youth work is therefore only possible with the clear and explicit consent of the young people who are worked with. The research was carried out in the context of both the emergence of the Connexions Service and the ‘Transforming Youth Work’ government policy. While the former was clearly committed to engaging a population of socially excluded young people who were not in education, employment or training (NEETs), the latter provided additional funding on the basis of a centrally defined curriculum of purposeful activities. As such the research highlighted the potential contradictions between engaging young people, particularly those groups who traditionally avoid engagement by state agencies - social inclusion – and the regulatory tendencies of New Labour’s social investment state.