By Rosie Ferguson, UK Youth CEO

Six months into my role at UK Youth, after nearly a decade outside the youth sector, I’ve been struck by two things.

The first is the scale of the challenge.

Over the last fifteen years youth work has been steadily eroded. You don’t need me to tell you again that local authority spending on youth services in England has fallen by more than 70% since 2010, representing a real-terms reduction of more than £1.2 billion. In practical terms this has meant the loss of thousands of youth worker roles and the closure of more than 1,000 youth centres across the country.

Behind those figures are the realities many of you see every day:

• fewer safe spaces for young people
• stretched youth workers and volunteers
• fragmented funding
• and severe pressures on young people’s mental health, employment prospects, and even physical safety as they navigate an increasingly divided and difficult world.

But the second thing I’ve noticed is how much there still is to build on. This is also a story of hope.

Across the country, youth workers are changing – and often saving – young lives. They are trusted adults helping young people find confidence, connection, purpose, and joy. Despite fifteen years of severe cuts and rising need, they continue to show up with extraordinary courage and creativity.

From Bodmin to Blackpool to Belfast; I see resilience and innovation everywhere. I see brilliant leaders running youth organisations in communities. I see a deep and unwavering commitment to equity, opportunity and belonging for young people. And I see the extraordinary passion, ambition and creativity of young people themselves.

Despite everything, the foundations of a strong youth sector are still here – and ready to do more.

Our new strategy at UK Youth will focus on three significant shifts to widen the reach and deepen the impact of youth work.

1. We’ll back youth work leaders; including championing infrastructure

First, we want to strengthen the infrastructure that supports youth organisations themselves.

For too long, the system around youth provision has been fragmented and transactional. Organisations are often competing for short-term grants, navigating complex reporting requirements and trying to deliver services in isolation.

Our focus will be on consistency, collaboration and partnership.

That means strengthening local and national infrastructure so that local youth organisations spend less time working out how to run their organisations and more time supporting young people.

It also means shifting the way the sector works together — moving from transactions to partnerships, and from short-term programmes to long-term ecosystem building.

We also know that leadership and organisational development take time and headspace. That’s why we will build on the success of the UK Youth Fund. We will continue to attract new investment into the sector and distribute unrestricted, multi-year grants to youth organisations alongside a ‘grants plus’ offer of tailored organisational development support.

2. Keeping youth work effective

Alongside strengthening infrastructure, we also need to ensure that youth work and outdoor learning continue to be effective, evidence-led and able to reach more young people.

Across the UK there are already powerful examples of youth work and outdoor learning making a measurable difference to young people’s lives — supporting their mental health, building employability skills and strengthening the safety and cohesion of communities.

The challenge is not that these programmes don’t exist. It’s that too often they remain small, localised or short-term, without the investment or infrastructure needed to scale their impact.

At UK Youth we want to play a stronger role in helping the sector identify what works, scale it responsibly and share learning across the network. Our Thriving Minds work, for example, is helping to build the evidence base for how youth work can support young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Youth workers are often among the most trusted adults in a young person’s life, and youth spaces can provide early support that helps prevent challenges from escalating. Our Thriving Minds report highlights the role youth organisations can play in strengthening resilience, belonging and emotional wellbeing for young people.

Our role is not simply to run programmes ourselves, but to help the sector learn from what works — sharing models, strengthening evaluation and supporting organisations to adapt successful approaches in their own communities.

Because when effective youth work is properly supported and shared, its impact can reach far more young people than any single programme alone.

3. Telling the story of youth work’s impact to inspire lasting change

And finally, we need to tell a clearer and more compelling story about the impact of youth work and outdoor learning — and ensure that young people themselves are at the heart of that story.

The evidence base is growing. Research consistently shows that high-quality youth provision can support improved mental wellbeing, stronger social connections, increased confidence and better long-term outcomes for young people.

But the story of that impact is still not being told loudly enough.

Too often the sector is forced to justify its existence in narrow terms — focused on crisis prevention or cost savings — rather than on the transformative role youth work plays in helping young people discover who they are, find their voice and shape the communities around them.

At UK Youth we want to help change that narrative: not just telling the story of our own programmes but amplifying the collective impact of youth work and outdoor learning from all our network and partners across the UK. 

Crucially, that story should not be told about young people — it should be told with them and by them.

Because when young people’s voices are visible in the national conversation, it strengthens the case — and helps inspire the lasting change and greater investment the sector needs.

The challenges facing the youth sector are real and well documented.

But less celebrated are the opportunities.

Across the country there are extraordinary youth organisations, youth workers and young people already building the future.

Our new mission is to widen the reach and deepen the impact of youth work and outdoor learning.

We want to build a society that backs every young person – through each spark, struggle, and success.

And we can’t wait to work with you all to make this a reality.