Catalogue description Board of Education: Technical Branch: Local Education Authority Juvenile Unemployment Centres, later Juvenile Instruction Centres, Files

In county order for England and Wales; and the Isle of Man.

Local Education Authorities were encouraged by the Board of Education to establish Juvenile Unemployment Centres as part of a national effort to mitigate the effects of unemployment after the 1914-1918 war. Facilities were provided for education and instruction of an informal character for young persons between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years of age; attendance at a centre was made a qualifying condition of an Out of Work Donations Scheme

Initially the cost of the Scheme was borne by the Exchequer; after 1919 grant aid was substituted and the cost shared between the Board and the Local Authority.

Attendance at the centres continued to be linked with the payment of benefit under the terms of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920 and the Unemployment (Courses of Instruction) Act, 1921. Juvenile unemployment again became a serious problem, and in 1921 Local Education Authorities were asked to submit proposals for opening or re-opening Juvenile Unemployment Centres.

Responsibility gradually devolved upon the Ministry of Labour and under the Ministry of Labour (Transfer of Powers) Order, 1927; followed by the Unemployment Insurance Acts of 1930 and 1934 it became a statutory duty of Education Authorities for Higher Education to provide Juvenile Unemployment Centres, subsequently known as Juvenile Instruction Centres, under the control of the Ministry of Labour. The Board of Education continued to be consulted in an advisory capacity, in matters relating to inspection, and the design of new Centres.