We now better understand the barriers young people face in participating in youth activities, but do this week’s Government announcements address them? 

On 6 August 2025, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced an updated package of measures to open up new opportunities for young people, including £22.5m split over three years to support up to 400 schools to offer their pupils ‘enrichment’ activities. 

This announcement comes as DCMS published new commissioned research, delivered by UK Youth and SQW, which identifies the barriers and enablers to participation in youth activities. 

Here, we explore the findings from this research and ask how far the Government’s latest commitments go towards unlocking youth work for young people. 

Our latest research: Barriers and enablers to participation in youth activities 

As part of the Government’s announcements, our latest research has today been published by DCMS. Previous UK Youth research has shown that youth provision achieves incredible outcomes for young people but far too many do not access these opportunities. This new research highlights that a young person’s characteristics (e.g. socio-economic background) shape their awareness of youth provision and their motivation to engage and keep on attending. 

Personal characteristics matter: A young person’s background is linked to how they engage in youth provision. For example, females and those living in more economically disadvantaged areas are less likely to participate in youth groups and clubs. 

A lack of awareness of local youth provision reduces participation: Young people want more opportunities to learn about the availability of youth provision, particularly through schools, outreach and marketing. 

Young people’s motivations for taking part in youth activities affect the degree to which they join in: Young people’s motivations for attending youth provision range from ‘because they enjoy it’ (82%) to ‘learning and skills development (73%). Being motivated by certain factors is linked to more regular participation in a wider range of activities.   

Young people experience a range of barriers to accessing youth services: Practical barriers include the availability of activities locally, a lack of time, cost and affordability, location and transport, and physical accessibility. Other barriers relate more to a young person’s sense of inclusion, a lack of alignment with interests or preferences, a lack of confidence, and feelings of safety and happiness in youth spaces. 

Youth sector professionals and young people are clear on how to overcome barriers to participation: 

• Youth voice, agency and empowerment are critical for increasing participation and satisfaction 
• Having a community presence, visibility and brand recognition supports awareness of local provision, particularly for underserved groups 
• Building trust and familiarity is key to the success of youth work and increasing engagement 
• Offering variety and tailoring the offer is important for youth activities to be seen as appealing and high quality, especially for older groups of young people 
• Youth provision should be free or as affordable as possible to maximise engagement, particularly amongst groups of young people at the sharpest end of the rising cost of living 

Oscar Bingham, Acting Director of Impact at UK Youth, said: 

“There is no doubt that out-of-school youth activities achieve incredible outcomes for young people, but too few can access this often life-changing support. 

“There are many barriers to accessing youth provision, not least because the youth sector is grappling with 15 years of devastating cuts. In that time, nearly half of youth centres have closed and over 4,500 youth work jobs have been lost since 2011-12.  

“The youth sector is resilient and committed and many youth organisations are weathering the storm brilliantly. This research highlights how they can better target and engage young people who are currently not participating. There are also implications for local statutory bodies such as schools and local authorities in how they collaborate with – and support – the youth sector to increase young people’s engagement. This should also extend to outreach with parents to build understanding and awareness of the value and availability of local youth provision. 

“However, it is clear that youth organisations simply can’t deliver all aspects of good practice outlined in the report due to the structural issues they face: limited and reducing funding, workforce challenges, poor or misinformed perceptions of their offer, and challenges related to coordination and partnership working. Central government has an essential role to play in all of this, and the upcoming National Youth Strategy presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close the participation gap.” 

This week’s announcements from the Government – how far do they go? 

As Government looks ahead to its Autumn launch of a new National Youth Strategy, Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement this week includes a number of measures aimed at ‘expanding youth services and real-world opportunities to re-connect young people with the world around them.’ 

UK Youth welcomes the government’s ongoing commitment to breaking down barriers to opportunity for young people and its recognition of the value of out-of-school youth provision. However, to turn the tide after a decade-and-a-half of devastating cuts to youth services, the upcoming National Youth Strategy needs to be backed by significant investment from across Government to deliver on what young people need and want. In May, our analysis (as reported in the Guardian), showed that Labour was spending less on youth work than the last Conservative government. 

This week, the Government has announced: 

• £22.5m, split over three years, to create a tailored enrichment offer in up to 400 schools. This will give pupils access to extra-curricular activities such as ‘sport, art and music, outdoor activities, debating or volunteering that support wellbeing and essential skills around the school day.’ DCMS must ensure that this funding doesn’t just support after-school activities within the school gates, but offers young people engaging development opportunities in the community, including through existing youth provision and clubs. 
• The launch of the Better Youth Spaces programme. This £30.5m fund was part of previous announcements, but the application window has now opened. Funding will go towards smaller capital projects such as new equipment for youth clubs in areas with the highest levels of child poverty. This is great news for struggling youth centres needing to refresh or improve their facilities but it won’t pay the heating bill or youth workers’ salaries. 
• A Local Youth Transformation pilot (being delivered by a consortium of youth sector infrastructure organisations, including UK Youth). Also included in previous announcements, this £8m programme is supporting local authorities to deliver a high-quality out-of-school offer. We welcome this pilot’s approach to assessing, improving, and investing in impactful local youth offers. However, with local authority expenditure on youth provision having fallen by 73% since 2010/11, central Government needs to commit long-term to rebuilding local youth sector infrastructure. 
• The launch of a third phase of the Million Hours Fund, a £19m joint funding programme with The National Lottery Community Fund to deliver over a million additional hours of youth work in areas with high rates of anti-social behaviour.
• £7.5 million for the Uniformed Youth Fund, supporting youth organisations like The Scouts, Guides and Volunteer Police Cadets, focused on areas of unmet demand.  

Vicky Browning OBE, CEO of UK Youth, said: 

“We welcome the Government’s announcements this week on opening up opportunities to young people alongside other recent youth-focused policy initiatives like Young Futures Hubs and votes for 16-year olds. We are seeing a real desire from Government to improve young people’s access to out of school activities and a recognition that investing in youth provision doesn’t just make moral sense, but economic sense too.  

“This is a promising start, but we’re not there yet – the level of investment doesn’t meet the scale of the challenge. The upcoming National Youth Strategy needs to set out how the Government will invest significantly in youth work specifically, responding to what young people have asked for, rebuilding the youth sector workforce and investing in vital youth sector infrastructure. Government needs to explicitly call out the life-changing role that youth work plays in young people’s lives. Thanks to the work of UK Youth and many others, the evidence that youth work works is now indisputable.”