Carmarthenshire County Council’s Youth Support Service has been awarded the National Participation Charter for Children and Young People.

The service which supports young people aged 8-25 across Carmarthenshire reach their full personal, social and educational potential was given the accreditation for its commitment to the participation standards.

The National Children and Young People’s Participation Standards are a tool to help measure the process of children and young people’s participation in the work undertaken by a service supporting young people. And that they are working in line with the National Participation Standards which are underpinned by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The service also provides support and opportunities to access employment, education or training for ages 16-25.

The council’s director of education and children services, Gareth Morgans, said: “This is an essential and exciting part of our journey as a service in realising our vision of being a service that provides a robust range of support from open access to specialised support, enabling children, young people and young adults from 8-25 years of age to access what they need, when and where they need it so that they can reach their full personal, social and educational potential.

“The voice of children and young people is important to us as a service and being awarded the Charter demonstrates our strong commitment to children and young people’s participation within our work in Carmarthenshire.

“The Charter will allow us to use the National Participation Standards as a tool to measure the process of the participation of children and young people in decision making processes within our local authority. It will also help us to identify current areas of good practice, as well as areas for development.”