SINGAPORE - Students Care Service and Care Corner Singapore have been named as key organisations to run the Republic's three existing programmes to guide and rehabilitate young people under 21 who get into trouble.

Called integrated service providers, the two organisations - which already run the Guidance, Enhanced Step-up and Triage programmes - will continue to do so under the first phase of this move to centralise these three youth programmes.

Through integrated service providers, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) hopes to "establish greater consistency in the quality of service delivery", said Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin.

Mr Tan was speaking at Students Care Service's international conference on children and youth work practice on Tuesday (Nov 15).

The three youth programmes are currently run by charities and youth organisations that target teens who have committed petty offences for the first time, those who have dropped out of school and young offenders.

With the change to centralise the programmes, smaller agencies will stop running them. Appointed integrated service providers will run them instead.

Students Care Service and Care Corner Singapore were appointed as integrated service providers on Oct 1, Mr Tan said. They will serve northern and south-western Singapore.

MSF intends to eventually have integrated service providers over the whole of Singapore, and will evaluate the current phase for best practices that can be incorporated in the next phase, which is when more organisations will be appointed and trained to run the three youth programmes.