The UK government has announced a National Youth Strategy, backed by £500 million, to rebuild youth services, train youth workers and other professionals to support them.

Youth Matters has been co-produced with more than 14,000 young people across England through a landmark State of the Nation survey. 

Commissioned by the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, the survey revealed the reality of young people, whose childhoods were shaped by the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, an always-on digital world and ongoing global uncertainty.

They voiced stark concerns about a lack of mental health support, growing social isolation and an absence of youth services in their communities. 

Despite being the most digitally connected generation, the report highlights that they face unprecedented levels of isolation – among the highest globally. 

They want more opportunities to connect in person, safe spaces, better mental health support, guidance for their education and careers, greater access to enriching activities and opportunities and tools to engage positively online and offline. 

Nandy said: “The challenges facing young people today demand a major change in direction due to their urgency. For too long, youth policy has been an afterthought. This generation deserves better.

“Young people are the most digitally connected but also the most isolated in generations with many wanting more meaningful real life connections. Young people have been crystal clear in speaking up in our consultation: they need support for their mental health, spaces to meet with people in their communities and real opportunities to thrive. 

“We will give them what they want. Today’s National Youth Strategy puts young people at the heart of decision-making and begins to rebuild the youth services that were decimated over the past decade.

“From Young Futures Hubs in local communities to hundreds of millions of pounds invested in youth facilities to transforming the services that support them – we will give young people somewhere to go, something meaningful to do, and someone who cares about their wellbeing. They have spoken – now we’re delivering for them.”

Nandy also told The Guardian that young people have been facing 'violent indifference' from adults, saying: “An entire generation of young people have grown up with a new set of challenges that the adults who want to support them can’t navigate ourselves and a systematic stripping away of the systems that were there to support them.”

First mentioned in the Comprehensive Spending Review The National Youth Strategy represents a fundamental shift in how the government will support young people over the next decade, acknowleding that they have been marginalised. For example, local government spending on youth services fell by 73 per cent between 2010/11 and 2022/23, with more than 1,000 youth centres closing and more than 4,500 youth worker roles being lost.

The National Youth Strategy centres will transform youth services to provide safe and welcoming spaces, offering young people somewhere to go, something meaningful to do and someone who cares about their wellbeing. 

The £500 million funding has been allocated to build or refurbish up to 250 youth facilities over the next four years, and provide equipment for activities to around 2500 youth organisations, through a new £350 million Better Youth Spaces programme. 

A further £70 million will be invested in the formation of 50 Young Futures Hubs to be launched by March 2029, providing access to youth workers and other professionals, who will support the wellbeing and career development of young people and prevent them from harm.

The first eight hubs are set to be operational by March 2026 in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, County Durham, Nottingham, Bristol, Tower Hamlets, and Brighton and Hove.

Organisations in underserved areas will be supported to deliver high-quality youth work and activities through a Richer Young Lives Fund worth more than £60 million.

The wellbeing, personal development, and essential life skills of young people will be boosted via a £22.5 million programme of support around the school day in up to 400 schools.

A further £15 million will be invested in recruiting and training youth workers, volunteers and other trusted adults. 

Youth services will be strengthened through local partnerships, better information sharing, and digital infrastructure, ensuring young people receive high-quality, safe, and effective support in their communities.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says: “As a dad and as Prime Minister, I believe it is our generation’s greatest responsibility to turn the tide on the lost decade of young kids left as collateral damage. It is our moral mission. 

“Today, my government sets out a clear, ambitious and deliverable plan – investing in the next generation so that every child has the chance to see their talents take them as far as their ability can.

“That is also why we will ensure that if you choose an apprenticeship, you will have the same respect and opportunity as everyone else, as we get two-thirds of young people in higher-level learning or apprenticeships.”

The government aims to halve the gap in who gets to do meaningful activities between richer and poorer families. Half a million more young people will be given access to a trusted adult outside their home, helping to equip them with essential skills, such as resilience or how to manage their online safety, helping them transition to adulthood and adapt to a digital world. 

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport recently announced that more than £400 million will be invested in new and upgraded local community sports facilities over the next four years.

Zafeera Karim​, Member of Youth Parliament, spoke about the importance of including young people in decision making: “My hope is that this strategy will recognise what young people and their communities are already doing today and strengthen this work with sincerity at its origin and soundness in its fulfillment to create responsible, lasting change.​”

Alex Holmes OBE, The Diana Award: “The next 10 years must be about turning their ideas into action and giving young people the tools and confidence to hold us, as adults and institutions, to the promises we’ve made.”

Dan Lawes, CEO of My Life My Say: “By listening to young people every step of the way, we’ve created a strategy that is not only credible and representative, but one that I hope will deliver real, lasting change.”

Sophie Pender, Founder, The 93% Club: “The National Youth Strategy represents hope: targeted investment in the working class communities too often overlooked. It strengthens our mission to show the state schoolers, the kids on the council estates, the ones whose youth has been shaped by limited resources, that they matter too.”