Local authorities tend to be cash-strapped and risk-averse, so when Helen Backus convinced her Buckinghamshire county council employers to fund something that had never been done, it was some achievement.
Backus, who has been in charge of commissioning services for young people (14-19) at the council for five years, created two in-county Life Skills Centres – college units for young people with disabilities or additional needs.
“It is a completely new way of doing things and it hasn’t been easy – I got a lot of doors slammed in my face at first,” admits Backus, who says her background as an RAF medic set her in good stead to think on her feet.
“Without these centres 90% of these young people wanting to access post-16 education would either have to be uprooted and go miles away to board at a specialist college or get no education at all,” she explains.
Today that figure is down to 10%; and more than 200 young people have benefited since the Aylesbury Life Skills College opened in 2012.
The centres have been life-changing: “One young man had been written off before he came to the college – he was told he’d never be able to work or live independently. He is about to go for a job interview at Tesco, he cooks for himself and next year will be managing his own tenancy,” says Backus.
Joining a local authority was never part of her life plan, however. After taking time out to have children, Backus worked for the British Red Cross as its service manager for Thames Valley in 2007 – just as major floods hit all three counties in her remit. She was soon headhunted by the council and agreed to come on board, with a few conditions: “I am a bit wacky – my hair is bright pink and it has been blue. I insist on wearing jeans to work unless I am doing something really posh.”
