10 September 2025
UK Youth is delighted to be the delivery partner for the Adventures Away from Home Fund (AAfH) for 2025/26, in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
This exciting £4.7m programme will enable up to 30,000 young people aged 11-18 (or up to 25 for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) to access free outdoor learning experiences – helping remove those financial and social barriers that too often prevent participation.
Adventures Away from Home 2025/26 is focused on ensuring equitable access to nature-based learning for young people from disadvantaged or underrepresented backgrounds, or minoritised groups – including young carers, those living with disabilities, and others facing significant barriers to engaging with the outdoors.
This programme harnesses the power of immersive outdoor learning to support young people’s socio-emotional development, resilience, wellbeing and confidence — helping them build positive relationships with peers, trusted adults, and the natural environment.
Charities and not-for-profit outdoor providers across England are now invited to apply to deliver Adventures Away from Home experiences through full-day outdoor sessions and/or residential stays (one or two nights).
Applications close on 10am on Friday 26 September 2025.
Outdoor learning can be transformative — and last year’s Adventures Away from Home programme proved just how powerful it can be.
In 2024/25, the programme engaged over 9,750 young people from more than 500 youth groups, working in partnership with 69 Outdoor Learning Providers across England. More than half of the young participants faced multiple barriers to accessing outdoor experiences — including physical or learning disabilities, or experience in the care system.
Young participants saw clear improvements in areas like teamwork, initiative and emotion management, with 60% improving in pre/post-experience surveys and 91% according to group leader observations. Young people with disabilities saw some of the greatest gains, underscoring the value of inclusive outdoor learning
The programme also had a lasting effect on youth work practitioners, with 95% saying the programme supported them to build stronger relationships with their young people and 84% having gained outdoor learning skills to carry forward into future work.