Dear Colleague,

The Education Authority Youth service is pleased to announce the release of the 4th Edition of Youth Restart which will introduce additional easements for the delivery of youth services. In line with recent guidance issued by the Minster for Education this guidance will permit with immediate affect;

° Offsite day trips or day activities (education visits) within Northern Ireland
° No limit on the number of young people you can work with using outdoor spaces
° Provide food and refreshments as part of your youth work programme
° Provide supervised indoor and outdoor sports (non-contact)
° Increase from 50% to 75% of venue indoor capacity in groups sizes outlined in the guidance
° No limit of the number of in person staff/volunteer meetings or training

This means Youth Services is now in Step 3 of our Pathway to Recovery (Attached). At present Residential/Overnight stays are not permitted.

As always, the above easements are permissible only where organisations implement mitigations to limit the spread of Covid-19. Guidance on these mitigations, along with sample risk assessment and checklists are all contained with the Youth Restart Guidance (4th Edition).

Our new Edition of the Youth Restart Guidance can be accessed at www.youthonline.org.uk/restart along with additional restart resources. OR DOWNLOAD AND OPEN HERE

The Education Authority Youth Service would like to recognise and thank you for your patience as we recover youth services on phased approach. These easements will be critical to providing programmes for all our children and young people during the summer, in particular to support their emotional health and wellbeing.

The continued path to recovery relies on your commitment to ensuring that mitigations are place, and we continue to delivery youth services safely. In light of that it is important to note that this current step is always subject to review by the Department and the Northern Ireland Executive.