Did you know that in Cardiff there are young people who sit on interview panels, alongside adults, to make sure young people have a voice in the choices being made that affect them?

The Cardiff Young Inspectors are recruiting new members aged 11 – 25 from across the city. This is your chance to have a say on the services that affect young people.

What is a Young Inspector?

Young Inspectors have the job of checking out every Families First service and deciding how good they are for other young people. After all, who better to review the services than the people who use them?

What are we rating them on?

There are 7 Participation Standards that make up the National Children and Young People’s Participation Standards for Wales. The Young Inspectors rate services on all 7, award Kite-marks (kinda like medals) to the best ones, and give advice on how to improve the others.

What sort of things would we do?

Earlier this year, the Young Inspectors were on the interview panel for two really important jobs at Cardiff Council – you can read more about it below:

Young Inspectors and Young Interviewers have a say in Cardiff schools’ future

What’s in it for me?

You’ll receive training, experience and payment in the form of time credits – plus, it looks pretty awesome on your CV or UCAS form!

Here’s what previous Young Inspectors said about their experience:

“I have gained various new skills such as interviewing skills, investigation skills as well as developed a knowledge in children’s rights and participation. So far I have carried out over 2 inspections on two very different services and I am looking forward to supporting the new young inspectors with their upcoming inspection”. – Chloe

“Being an inspector has made it easier to do interviews for jobs, seeing it from the other side”. – Lisa

“I felt nervous carrying out the interviews at first but as my confidence grew it felt nice to hold some power and authority”.  – Karan

TheSprout is all about empowering young people and amplifying their voices so we proudly publish every Young Inspectors report for you to read and feedback on in the comments section.

Sounds great, how can I get involved?

There’s going to be hosting an information evening between 5pm – 7pm on the 26th of November at: Grassroots, 58 Charles Street, Cardiff, CF10 2GG

To reserve your space at the info evening, email: ait@cardiff.gov.uk with the subject ‘Young Inspectors Evening’ or if you have any queries please email Chloe on chloe.burrage@cardiff.gov.uk