Youth Matters Fund
Information about the Youth Matters Fund and how to apply.
Applies to England
The Youth Matters Fund is an over £400 million investment over the next few years to deliver significant long-term change in youth provision across 60 of the most underserved areas in England.
It will fund enriching activities, youth work and opportunities that help young people develop skills and build connections, as well as new builds, refurbishments, capital equipment and scheme development support to enable organisations working with young people to improve or expand their service offer.
We expect over 2,000 youth facilities and projects to benefit, helping create, expand, improve or preserve youth provision in communities where it is most needed.
Through the Youth Matters Fund, we want to radically change what it feels like to grow up in England by targeting investment in areas where young people feel there is little to do, empowering them to decide how it is spent, and supporting them with skilled, trusted adults to build their confidence and resilience. Young people will be at the heart of determining the use of the fund.
We listened to young people through the development of Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy, with the voices of more than 14,000 young people shaping our approach. They told us they want safe places to go, things to do, opportunities to develop their skills and trusted adults they can turn to. The Youth Matters Fund responds directly to what young people have told us.
Social Investment Business will deliver the fund in partnership with the National Youth Agency, UK Youth, UK Community Foundations, Young People’s Foundation Trust and Sharpe Pritchard. We expect to open the fund in early 2027 to eligible youth sector organisations and local authorities. We will share further information in due course.