Youth Matters Fund Programme
Information and policy updates on the Youth Matters Fund Programme.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
The Youth Matters Fund Programme is a £450 million investment to deliver significant long-term change in youth provision in 60 of the most underserved areas in England. It is the largest investment programme in youth made by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Across the programme we aim to give young people the power to prioritise the activities they most want to access in their areas.
The Youth Matters Fund Programme will be delivered in two phases:
Phase 1: Youth Matters Fund Local Authority Grants
An initial £20 million investment this financial year directly to the 60 local authorities in the eligible areas to create immediate impact on the ground. This funding will be used to deliver enriching activities and youth work which young people have said they want.
Phase 2: Youth Matters Fund
A further investment of over £400 million from FY27/28 to provide significant capital and revenue funding to transform local youth provision in the same 60 eligible areas. We expect this to open for applications in early 2027 and deliver over the next few years.
Youth-led funding toolkit
We are ensuring that young people are in the driving seat through the design and delivery of Youth Matters. To support the launch of the Youth Matters Fund, we have co-designed a youth-led funding toolkit which sets out a set of key principles to ensure that local areas are involving young people in shaping, designing, and delivering their local youth offer. Local areas will be expected to show how they are meeting these principles in funding applications. The toolkit offers support from start to finish, including practical tools, advice on building strong youth engagement and accountability, and ways for local areas to share best practice.
Find the Youth Funding Toolkit and guidance on the Centre for Youth Voice website.
On 10 December 2025, the government published ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’ - the first cross-government plan for young people in 15 years. It is a 10-year commitment to ensuring every young person, regardless of their background, has a safe place to go, someone who cares for them, and a community they feel a part of. It includes two clear ambitions - by 2035, we want:
- to have halved the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers
- for half a million more young people to have access to a trusted adult outside of their home
The Youth Matters Fund Programme is a key part of that ambition.
Alongside the fund programme, the government has also announced specific measures to establish Young Futures Hubs, to join up services to better meet young people’s needs, increase enriching activities in schools and the community, such as community sports and arts, increase the number of specialist youth workers and invest in the wider transformation of youth services.
Youth Matters Local Authority Grant: eligible local authorities
The following 60 upper tier local authorities (UTLAs) are eligible for the Youth Matters Fund:
- Barnsley
- Birmingham
- Blackpool
- Cheshire West and Chester
- County Durham
- Cumberland
- Darlington
- Derby
- Doncaster
- East Sussex
- Essex
- Gateshead
- Halton
- Hartlepool
- Herefordshire, County of
- Isle of Wight
- Kingston upon Hull, City of
- Knowsley
- Leeds
- Lincolnshire
- Liverpool
- Luton
- Manchester
- Middlesbrough
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Norfolk
- North East Lincolnshire
- North Northamptonshire
- North Tyneside
- Nottingham
- Oldham
- Peterborough
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Redcar and Cleveland
- Rochdale
- Rotherham
- Salford
- Sefton
- Sheffield
- Shropshire
- Solihull
- South Tyneside
- Southampton
- Southend-on-Sea
- St. Helens
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Suffolk
- Sunderland
- Swindon
- Tameside
- Telford and Wrekin
- Torbay
- Wakefield
- Walsall
- Westmorland and Furness
- Wigan
- Wirral
- Worcestershire
Read the methodology for place selection