The purpose of this research was to examine Local Authority expenditure on youth services in England & Wales
In just six years, Local Authorities have cut their expenditure on youth services in England and Wales by more than £750m.
As this research demonstrates, the long-term benefits of youth services are far too often overlooked by Local Authorities, as they seek to meet more immediate financial and statutory pressures, even within services for children and young people.
It is as a result of these cuts, many young people are now missing out on opportunities outside the school setting to engage in positive activities that support their learning and development, opportunities previous generations took for granted.
It is difficult to imagine any other services in England and Wales that could be on the receiving end of cuts of more three fifths of their total budget over such a short period of time, with little or no scrutiny to the long-term impact this would have on our communities and the individuals missing out.
Unfortunately it is not until news of young people being isolated or incidents like the recent knife crimes in London hit the headlines, attention seems to go to the role of youth services. However, like all news cycles, this will pass, but as set out in this research, the cuts to youth services look likely to continue.
To halt and redress these continued cuts which are seeing increasing numbers of young people miss out, it is critical the importance of youth services are recognised in statute nationally, and in funding locally.
Linked to this, it is critical that Local Authorities are better accountable on how spending on youth services is allocated, particularly in England where existing reporting requirements are extremely limited.
Download the reportIf you want to find out more about this research or if you have a query please contact our Policy team on policy@ymca.org.uk