Our Young Inspectors were successful in a bid to facilitate peer research as part of the Young Londoners Research Programme, funded by the Mayor of London.

The programme supported nine youth organisations in facilitating peer research projects with training and support for groups of young people to design their own research projects, conduct fieldwork, and analyse their findings.

The Young Inspectors, who are part of the Participation and Engagement team, were supported by the Participation and Engagement Manager and colleagues at Partnership for Young London.

Over the course of 12 months, nine groups of young Londoners have designed and executed their research into barriers and/or opportunities for accessing youth services and presented their key findings and recommendations at the “Voices of the Future” event on June 2 2023.

The Young Inspectors decided to research “What reforms need to be made to youth services to make them more engaging and accessible for care-experienced young people, aged 11-16, in the London Boroughs of Merton, Wandsworth and Kingston?”

They used focus groups and interviews with young people, as well as semi-structured interviews with Youth Service Managers and Managers within Children’s Social Care. They spoke to young people across three boroughs, which totalled over 500 minutes of data.

The peer research provided a wealth of feedback from young people; from issues relating to relationships, safety, and better advertising. Young Inspectors also provided recommendations as part of their report.

Read the full report titled ‘Bright Futures: A Spotlight on Youth Services for Children in Care’. In addition, you can listen to the Young Inspectors discuss this project on the MyVoice Merton podcast.

To read the full “Voices of the Future” report and find out more, please visit Young Londoners Research Programme.