With up to 1 in 4 youth centres under the threat of closure, and emergency funding for youth services coming to an end, failure to act now will decimate the youth sector leaving a generation of young people without opportunities to thrive.  NYA and YMCA’s joint report, Time’s Running Out, makes clear a national strategy is needed … Continued

There is little or no co-ordinated provision in many rural areas to tackle inequalities and put young people at the heart of Covid-recovery. A new report, Overlooked: young people and rural youth services, makes clear there are vast gaps in local youth services. Hardest hit are the 2.2 million young people living in predominantly rural areas, living … Continued

Loss of funding and job cuts threaten the closure of many youth services through the winter. Left unprotected, youth services have already been cut by over 70% in less than a decade.  For every £16 cut on local services, £1 falls on youth work. While funding has been committed for schools and employment initiatives and … Continued

Drug Gangs Use Social Media To Groom Young People In County Towns Young people are being groomed locally – ‘on their door steps’ – as drug gangs and dealers adapt the way they work to exploit young people across county lines. A new report, Between The Lines, published today by the National Youth Agency (NYA) … Continued

Our new guidance supports local authorities in their statutory duty to secure local services. This includes the meaningful engagement of young people to ensure access to quality youth services at a neighbourhood level, whether they are directly delivered, commissioned by or run independently from the local authority.

This paper builds on the insights from the ‘Out of Sight?’ research report, on the known and emerging needs of young people through COVID-19, published by the National Youth Agency (NYA) in April 2020. We explore the impact of the pandemic on young people’s health and the role of young people’s services in support of … Continued

Call to mobilise youth workers as key workers Youth workers have an important role to play in supporting young people. This report summarises key recommendations and the latest research carried out by the National Youth Agency (NYA) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It calls for lessons to be learned as we emerge from national … Continued