This page keeps you up to date with the latest Leeds City Council youth takeovers! These takeover events happen each year and are run by young people and the Voice, Influence and Change team.
The team work with members of different strategic boards and invite young people whose lives are affected by the board’s decisions, to a takeover meeting each year. Takeover meetings are run by the young people and they choose the topics to discuss.
Here’s a little bit about each of the latest Takeovers:
Youth voice groups takeover the ‘Children and Young People’s Partnership Board’
This takeover took place in January 2025 and was attended by 12 different youth groups.
- Barca VIP
- Change by Shine (St Luke’s Care)
- Children in Care / Care Leavers Council
- Getaway Girls
- Gipsil
- LEAP (Leeds Young Carers Support Service, Family Action)
- Leeds City Council Youth Service
- LS14 Trust
- Leeds SEND Youth Council
- Members of Youth Parliament / Leeds Youth Council
- Youth Collective
- YouthWatch
‘Decision makers’ in attendance included staff from Leeds City Council, probation workers, police officers and NHS workers.
What was discussed?
The topic of the event was all about ‘crime and safety’ as this was voted as the top issue for children and young people in Leeds in the 2024 Make Your Mark Ballot, and links to Child Friendly Leeds wish 2.
Topics the young people wanted to address ranged from gangs and violence, to online safety and peer pressure and all the groups had a chance to bring up their concerns with decision makers in the room. Some of the discussions from the event have been summarised below, with the ideas of the young people given under each.
Increasing safety of parks
Make lighting in parks better and have street safety officers.
Creating young-people-friendly-spaces
Develop open spaces and consider lighting, plants and mirrors.
Create a youth hub with sports, crafts, dancing etc.
Create night time spaces in the community that educate through activities.
Address conduct issues in schools
Have a nominated school nurse in every school.
Make PSHE lessons engaging and coproduce them with young people so they are linked to reality.
Raising awareness of safe places
Use schools and social media.
Making public transport safer
Training for bus drivers. Public transport is often needed to get to a safe place so it needs to be clean, regular and affordable.
Improve current youth groups and clubs
Increase funding for resources and sessions around life skills to improve the number of young people who have access to a trusted adult.
What next?
Each decision maker was asked to make a pledge before they left. 17 pledges were received and each decision maker will be required to feedback to the Voice Influence and Change team by July 2025 about progress they have made.
A glimpse into the evening…
Children in Care & Care Leavers Council takeover ‘The Corporate Parenting Board’
The takeover took place in November 2024.
Who took over?
8 care-experienced young people took over the event, which 19 members of the CPB attended including 5 Councillors and 1 member of senior leadership from the Children and Families directorate.
What happened?
The young people led the introduction of the meeting with some games to allow everyone to get to know each other a little. They place Ice Breaker Jenga where CPB members took turns in coming up to the front, taking a Jenga block and sharing their names and job roles. The young people also split CPB members into small groups and asked them to match the picture and quirky fact to the correct board member.
Then, different topics were discussed:
Care Leavers Offer
This is an online resource for Care Leavers to let them know what support is on offer, and what is ‘out there’. The young people are giving their valuable input into what should be on this offer, helping to turn it into an online booklet, and to update the leaving care webpage.
Proudest achievements
Young people who took over the board meeting had the opportunity to share their best moments from the year. One young person spoke about delivering a speech to full council which led to ‘care experience’ being seen as a protected characteristic (find out more here). Another highlighted creating a film aimed at designated teachers. For plenty of the young people, attending and hosting the STARS awards was a stand-out moment. Finally, one young person has been part of the ‘Total Respect’ training, helping staff learn about issues that young people face.
Co-design work at Archway Hub
Archway Hub is a location use by the Care Leavers service. This service has recently been co-designed with young people so that the layout of the space is improved, as well as the activities on offer.
Care experience as a protected characteristic
Leeds City Council now views being care experienced as a protected characteristic, alongside the other protected characteristics, such as race, gender and age. The group discussed how this can help care experienced young people. Young people suggested the protected characteristic could support care experienced adults into jobs where they then work with care experienced young people and can act as role models. Conversations around the ‘importance’, ‘barriers’ and ‘next steps’ were had.
How did it go?
There was lots of positive feedback from young people and board members after the takeover:
I have learnt how brilliant young people are at public speaking
Can we do this more often?
I enjoyed the sharing of good ideas that will make a difference
Students from specialist learning provisions takeover the Leeds Area SEND and AP Partnership Board
This takeover took place in November 2024, and involved 40 students from from Broomfield South SILC, West SILC, Power House, Priesthorpe, John Jamieson, Bridge Church, Temple Moor and Green Meadows.
The board includes representatives from Leeds City Council, education and health and social care.
The aim of the takeover was to
- Learn about what we are doing in Leeds to address the issues.
- Learn about each other.
- Learn about the issues that are important to young people with SEND.
The important issues for young people with SEND…
Each of the important issues raised by young people was discussed and notes made:
Fun activities outside of school
Young people wanted a wider variety of clubs, including different times/days of the week and for activity providers to have SEND training to support their access. Young people also spoke about a need for more information for families about what is on.
Mental health support
Young people highlighted the importance of easier access to support and better mental health support for young people over 18 with SEND. They wanted professionals to have SEND training and for mental health information to be more easily accessible, including being easy to read.
Bullying and discrimination
Young people wanted more lessons in schools about bullying and discrimination, and positive message about young people with SEND.
Support for young people being bullied and discriminated against because of their disability, and information about where to get support, was also important.
SEND training for professionals
Basic SEND training for all professionals came up across the board as an important issue. Young people want professionals to know about:
- SEND and how to support young people.
- SEND services in Leeds.
- accessibility and inclusivity in the learning environment.
Disability awareness
Disability awareness amongst peers and celebrating disabilities, was also important to the young people with SEND who want people to be more supportive of their needs. They want an increase in accessible venues and better communication.
