Policy paper

Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy

Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy sets out how the government will work together with partners to respond to young peoples’ priorities over the next decade.

Applies to England

Documents

Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy (summary report)

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Details

The government wants young people, no matter their background, to have the skills, opportunities, and connections to thrive and to be empowered to shape their own lives and the community around them.

Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy sets out how the government will work together with partners to respond to young peoples’ priorities over the next decade. It has been co-produced with more than 14,000 young people aged 10 to 21 (and those with SEN/D up to age 25) across England. Their priorities fed into a landmark State of the Nation report published alongside the strategy. 

In 10 years, we want to have:

  • halved the gap in who gets to do enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers
  • half a million more young people with access to an adult who can listen to and support them outside of their home

Central to this will be key shifts in how we deliver across government for and with young people: from national to local, from fragmented to collaborative, and from excluded to empowered. It is underpinned by significant investment into enriching activities and youth facilities as well as into the local system of support for young people, from trusted adults to preventative services.  

Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy is a call to action for all across the country to work towards the vision of the strategy and ensure young people are prepared for both future challenges and opportunities.

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Updates to this page

Published 10 December 2025

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