YOUTH workers have reacted angrily after Oxfordshire County Council stopped printing copies of a handbook to help school leavers.

The 200-page Survival Guide for Young People which has been published since 1997, will now only be available on the Internet, rather than 10,000 copies being printed for every Year 11 class in the county’s secondary schools.

Mike Beal, a Banbury youth worker and chairman of the Oxfordshire branch of the Community and Youth Workers Union, part of Unite, said: “The guide gave pupils information on a range of issues from health to bullying and how to handle your finance, all aspects of a young person’s life at 16.

“The online version is fine, provided you have access to the Internet, but if you have a home background where there’s no Internet access then this will be very difficult.”

The union claims the council is saving just £10,000 by axing the printed version and that they were not consulted.

Council spokeswoman Louise Mendonca said: “Young people are heavy users of online communications and the decision has been taken to provide this guide online.

“The online version contains the same information, as well as links to further reading."

The online version of the guide is at survivalguide.me