Written statement: Changes to Youth funding in 2025-26 - May 15
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Lisa Nandy): This
Government recognises the transformative role that youth services
play in young people's lives. We know that being part of supportive
communities and having access to youth provision can improve a
young person's wellbeing, health and personal development. On 12
November, I announced the wind down of the National Citizen Service
(NCS) programme and closure of the NCS Trust, and committed to a
co-production of a...Request free trial
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Lisa Nandy): This Government recognises the transformative role that youth services play in young people's lives. We know that being part of supportive communities and having access to youth provision can improve a young person's wellbeing, health and personal development. On 12 November, I announced the wind down of the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme and closure of the NCS Trust, and committed to a co-production of a new National Youth Strategy. The strategy will allow us to put young people back in charge of their own destiny and provide them with meaningful choices and chances. It will better coordinate youth services, and move away from one-size-fits all approaches from central government, bringing power back to young people and their communities and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector. I would like to thank the NCS Trust, including the youth advisory board, for their engagement and commitment to delivering an orderly wind down of activity, and sharing their learnings to feed into the new National Youth Strategy. The new National Youth Strategy will help deliver on our national missions – spreading opportunities, improving growth, making our streets safer and taking pressure off health services. Since November, we have conducted significant engagement activity, reaching young people across the country, to better understand their needs and priorities. This included a national survey, which collected over 14,000 responses, several face-to-face and online focus groups, regional roundtables as well as innovative hacks. We will be publishing an interim report, ‘Today's Youth, Tomorrow's Nation', which will present those insights in the coming weeks. I previously committed to set out my department's 2025-26 funding for youth programmes - an investment of over £145 million - to provide stability to the youth sector and ensure young people can continue to access opportunities, as we transition to the new National Youth Strategy. The package of funding for 2025-26 includes:
I look forward to the publication of both the 'Today's Youth, Tomorrow's Nation' and of the National Youth Strategy and thank every young person, organisation and colleagues across government for their input to date. Young people's needs have never been more complex, but together, we will drive the transition to a future in which young people have choices and chances and local communities are empowered to support a generation to succeed. |