We welcome today’s announcement from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, outlining a new funding package for youth services in 2025–2026. This initial investment – spanning revenue and capital support for youth services, workforce development, enrichment activities, volunteering, and youth voice – is a vital first step toward rebuilding a thriving and sustainable youth sector.
The Secretary of State rightly recognises the transformative role youth work plays in young people’s lives and its contribution to delivering the national missions by spreading opportunity, boosting growth, making streets safer, and easing pressure on health services.
However, with youth services and the youth work workforce in crisis after 15 years of cuts – and £1.2 billion lost annually – this must be just the beginning. We urge the Government to go further and faster in the forthcoming Spending Review and National Youth Strategy and to take urgent action to ensure that every young person, wherever they live, can access high-quality youth work support.
Now more than ever, youth work must be recognised, prioritised, and embedded across Government agendas. We look forward to working closely with Government and the wider youth sector to build on today’s announcement and to secure the long-term investment and recognition that youth work so urgently needs.
– Leigh Middleton OBE,
Chief Executive Officer, NYA
