Written Statement (Wales): A review of funding for youth work in Wales - Feb 3

Monday, 3 February 2025 11:38

Lynne Neagle, Cabinet Secretary for Education: Youth work is a vital part of the education family in Wales. Youth work can help young people to build relationships with peers and trusted adults, to gain confidence, participate in social activities and provide the support they need to develop their voice, influence and place in society. Youth work is delivered by both local authorities and a wide range of voluntary organisations, and provision is extremely varied depending...Request free trial

Of course, these services need resources to be able to deliver for young people, both in terms of staffing and funding. One of the recommendations of the Interim Youth Work Board was to carry out a review of the funding available to the youth work sector. This work was undertaken in collaboration with three higher education institutions across Wales - Wrexham University, University of Wales Trinity St David and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

The work has been conducted in three phases. Phases one and two sought to establish what funding was available to the sector, how that funding is spent and how decisions about funding are made. The report from phase 2 provides us with rich information and evidence of the complex nature of funding for youth work across Wales.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to engage with this work, including the Youth Work Funding Review Steering Group, stakeholders from a wide variety of organisations as well as young people.

Phase 3 of this review had intended to undertake a cost benefit analysis to help demonstrate the impact of youth work. Unfortunately, due to lack of up-to-date and robust evidence from a Wales-specific perspective, it has not been possible to deliver this phase of the review in the form originally envisaged. Instead, an update on the work, providing details of the challenges faced, areas where further research could help to address some of those evidence gaps, and highlighting some of the valuable qualitative information we received from the sector and young people in particular, is planned for publication in the weeks ahead.

It remains the case that phases one and two of the review provide useful and far-reaching recommendations which I am eager to explore and support.

I have set out my response to these recommendations below. I am pleased to say that work is already underway to address a number of these. I will update you on progress in relation to the others in due course.

Recommendation	Response
Recommendation 1: The Welsh Government has demonstrated its commitment to youth work in recent years. We recommend that the Welsh Government and other partners, continue to promote and develop a sustainable and equitable model of youth work in Wales.	Sustainability and equity are both central considerations in our ongoing work with the youth work sector and other stakeholders. Building on steps taken to respond to the Interim Youth Work Board's recommendations, we will continue to work with partners to promote and develop a sustainable and equitable model of youth work in Wales. This will include current work to strengthen the legislative basis for youth work.
Recommendation 2: We recommend that Welsh Government and other partners consider the sustainability of funding streams for the voluntary youth work sector and develop strategies and mechanisms to ensure there is an equitable distribution of funds.	We recognise the importance of sustainability within funding streams. We have already extended the funding period for our Strategic Voluntary Youth Work Organisation Grant, which provides core funding to voluntary organisations, to three years, and broadened the reach of that grant to include small specialist youth work organisations. We will continue to ensure that opportunities for funding are shared widely to enable as wide a range as possible of eligible organisations to apply as well as working with organisations to address barriers to accessing funding.
Recommendation 3: We recommend that the Welsh Government and other partners identify ways to reduce the bureaucratic “burden” of the funding process for voluntary and maintained youth work sector organisations including access, application, and reporting.	Building on the Programme for Government commitment to reduce the administrative burden on local authorities, we will take action to help reduce the administrative burden of all youth work grants. The criteria and application process for the latest round of the Strategic Voluntary Youth Work Organisation Grant, launched in autumn 2024, were reviewed to ensure only relevant and appropriate information is requested, and to streamline all documentation. Similar steps will also be undertaken for other youth work grants. We will also seek examples of good practice from elsewhere across Welsh Government and beyond to help the ongoing reduction of bureaucratic burdens.
Recommendation 4: We recommend Welsh Government consider addressing the limitations of the available data both in terms of standardisation in reporting for the maintained sector annual audit questions, and ways to collect equivalent data from the voluntary sector. Both may require support for organisations to complete.	The current annual data collection provides valuable information from the maintained youth work sector, including data on workforce, engagement with young people and the types of provision, as well as financial information. Subject to the outcome of work currently underway in relation to exploring the potential establishment of a national body for youth work and the current consultation on proposals to strengthen the legislative basis for youth work, we will work with the sector to consider how annual audit arrangements may need to be reviewed to remain fit for purpose. We will also consider what, if any, arrangements should also be introduced for the voluntary sector to build a cross-sector understanding of provision which is robust and comparable year-on-year.
Recommendation 5: We recommend the Welsh Government and other partners provide annual training on grant writing and fundraising to develop and promote normative standards across the youth work sector	Work undertaken to date via a Workforce Development Pilot has helped establish a better understanding of the current skills and training levels within the youth work sector and the gaps in that knowledge. As part of this pilot, training has been delivered for individuals across the youth work sector on a variety of funding and fund-raising issues, including sharing advice from a range of funders. These areas of support will continue to be fed into the ongoing programme of training and development.
Recommendation 6: We recommend that the Welsh Government, maintained youth work sector, voluntary youth work sector and other partners develop better mechanisms for shared accountability and transparency of funding decisions, locally, regionally and across Wales, to ensure equitable and timely access to funding opportunities	Proposals for a new statutory framework for youth work in Wales have recently been published for consultation. An improved mechanism for shared accountability is a key aspect of this framework, with a proposal that each local authority, working with voluntary and statutory partners, is required to develop a youth work strategic plan. We will also explore opportunities to embed greater transparency of opportunities for funding and outcomes of funding decisions into terms and conditions for youth work grants.
Recommendation 7: We recommend that the Welsh Government, maintained youth work sector, voluntary youth work sector and other partners identify and share best practice on collaborative working on funding and grant applications to encourage, and support local, national, and regional partnership working.	Building on arrangements in place requiring all recipients of the Strategic Voluntary Youth Work Organisation Grant to share best practice with others, further work will be undertaken to explore the extension of these arrangements to other youth work grants, specifically to help all partners understand what works well in relation to meaningful collaboration.
Recommendation 8: We recommend that the Welsh Government and other partners consider the impact that the variability in local decision making (e.g. the RSG allocation of funds in each local authority) has on the equitable access to youth work for the young people of Wales. And Recommendation 9: We recommend that the Welsh Government as part of its commitment to promoting access to youth work for young people in Wales considers hypothecation of the RSG to identify nominal amounts that should be allocated to support youth work within every local authority area.	As set out in the Programme for Government, we are committed to reducing the administrative burden on local authorities. This includes funding provided to local authorities through the Revenue Support Grant which in turn is then allocated to services in line with locally identified priorities. In terms of youth work, this has led to significant variations in how youth work is being funded. The aim must be for all young people in Wales to have access to youth work services regardless of their background or where they live. Hypothecation of the funding available for youth work in the Revenue Support Grant will not on its own provide that, and could have unintended consequences. For example, it could mean that some services would be curtailed or cease because of a reduction in allocated funding as a result of hypothecation. Our proposals for a new statutory framework set out mandatory planning, delivery and accountability arrangements for the provision of youth work that all local authorities will be required to follow. This framework cannot be delivered by local authorities alone, and a collaborative multi-agency approach working with voluntary organisations is a vital part of this framework. This framework will help build a clearer understanding of the key objectives for youth work in each part of Wales and local decisions to take action to address these priorities, including how resources are allocated. Alongside these developments, we will continue to consider how other levers can be used to ensure clarity on how a rich and varied youth work offer is available to young people across Wales.
Recommendation 10: We recommend that the Welsh Government and other partners continue to consider the strengthening of the legislative basis for youth work within Wales through the adoption of a statutory framework for youth work. This may include the establishment of a national body for youth work which could have responsibility for distribution of funding to the sector, support for workforce development and training and to influence developments at a regional planning level	Proposals for a new statutory framework for youth work have recently been published for consultation. Work continues in relation to exploration of the potential establishment of a national body for youth work, and responsibilities for distribution of funding as well as training and development for the workforce will be incorporated into this work.
Recommendation 11: We recommend that the youth work sector continues to consider the full and meaningful participation of young people in the decision-making process that affect them, including grant application, and spending, which could be done through application of the children and young people's national participation standards	Proposals for a new statutory framework for youth work set out clear requirements in terms of the participation of young people, in line with the national participation standards. We are committed to ensuring the voices of young people continue to shape the work we do. As part of our work to encourage and highlight this, the Quality Mark for Youth Work in Wales sets out standards for engaging with young people in the planning and delivery of youth work. We will continue to explore opportunities to further encourage the full and meaningful participation of young people in decisions that affect them.
Recommendation 12: We recommend that the Welsh Government continue with phase 3: A cost benefit analysis that builds on established economic thinking and current best practice from the youth work sector across the UK and beyond. To provide data to help predict the consequences of funding decisions and their potential impacts for young people.	Work on the third phase of the review has continued to explore opportunities to better understand the economic impact of youth work. An update on work undertaken within this phase will be published in due course.