1000 new youth workers to help reduce the risk of unemployment
Young people will be able to access specialised support in their community, as the government makes largest investment into youth services in a generation.
- Young people will be able to access specialised support in their community, as the government makes largest investment into youth services in a generation.
- In addition, a £450 million programme will also help build and improve youth facilities and fund enriching activities in England’s most underserved areas.
Young people across England are set to benefit from specialised support outside of home and school, as the government launches a major drive to support the training and employment of 1000 new youth workers.
It comes as the government makes the largest investment into youth services in a generation following a drop of local authority spending of 73% between 2010 and 2023, which led to the loss of vital youth worker roles and youth services across England.
The 1000 new youth workers announced today is the first step in rebuilding the youth workforce. The first workers are set to be in position by spring 2027, as part of the government’s plan to support young people ahead of the social media ban for under 16s coming into force.
The youth workers will work with young people aged 11 plus, within community spaces and through outreach to ensure the most vulnerable young people have access to support, including those at highest risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training). The specialist youth workers will collaborate with multi-agency teams across education and training, health and crime prevention to support young people to engage in a range of activities including sport, arts, mentoring and wider youth services.
This initiative will provide a significant step towards meeting the Government’s ambition for 500,000 more young people to have access to a trusted adult by 2035.
The number of youth facilities is also set to increase thanks to a £450 million programme. The new ‘Youth Matters’ Fund will open for applications soon and will help build, improve and expand spaces for young people to connect, while funding more youth work and enriching in-person activities, such as sports, music and volunteering, ahead of the upcoming social media ban.
Today’s announcement is the latest part of the government’s National Youth Strategy, Youth Matters, launched by Lisa Nandy in December 2025 and co-produced with 14,000 young people through a landmark ‘State of the Nation’ survey. The survey highlighted that many young people have been left without access to safe, supportive environments or a community to belong to, while reliance on online interaction has grown in the absence of face-to-face opportunities.
In response the National Youth Strategy set out how young people will benefit from over £500 million of government investment, with an ambitious delivery plan to rebuild youth services over the next decade. The move is designed to hand power back to local communities, and allow young people to design services around the skills and opportunities they need to shape their futures.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- According to a survey carried out by YMCA, Beyond the Brink?, between 2010 and 2023 local authority spending dropped by 73%.
- The Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy was developed in consultation with 14,000 young people aged 10 to 21 (up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities).
- The £450 million Youth Matters Fund programme includes funding for the construction and renovation of youth facilities and the purchase of capital equipment, and funding for youth work and enriching activities, to support the ambition to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers, as well as funding for central programme management and support.
- Today’s announcement is part of major cross-government programme of youth support. It includes the creation of 50 new Young Futures Hubs which offer linked services across the major issues facing 10-18 year olds, £132 million being invested in the ‘Every Child Can’ programme, £22.5 million for the Enrichment Expansion Programme, funding in-person activities in and around 400 schools, a £10 million partnership with the Kings Trust that will recruit and upskill trusted adult, and the Youth Guarantee an £820 million initiative designed to ensure all young people aged 18 to 24 have access to education, training, an apprenticeship, or help finding a job.
- The UK government has set out plans to ban social media for under 16s. Alongside this, certain harmful features on other online services like livestreaming and strangers contacting children will be restricted for under 18s. The first set of Regulations will be laid before the end of the year, and the changes are expected to be implemented in Spring 2027. More details here.
- The details of the funding and delivery will be announced in due course following further collaborative work with the youth services sector and the usual governance and programme development processes