The Network of Regional Youth Work Units – including the YWU Y&H welcomes the announcement of a National Youth Strategy by Lisa Nandy, and the recognition that future policy is co-produced with young people, ‘policymaking must adapt to embrace young voices and listen to their aspirations for a better future’ . We know there is a huge need for local services for young people and a cross-departmental strategy enables all parts of the system to come together to support the next generation. Across our network we are committed to working in partnership to support the strategy and deliver better outcomes for young people in a rapidly changing environment.

Within this, we know that the financial climate is exceptionally challenging, Local Authorities have experienced huge cuts to services, and we do not underestimate the pressures they are experiencing. The Local Youth Transformation Pilots must draw from the many examples of collaboration already in place across the Voluntary and Community Sector with the statutory sector. They will require resourcing to achieve change and must be designed with young people and the diversity of groups who are there to support them to achieve maximum value and impact and the Dormant Assets funding will need detail on how it will address this deficit.

For the youth sector, many funders have paused their funding, and the closure of the National Citizen Service will have an impact on the resources available to voluntary sector groups and through this the young people who are supported by them. It represents another cut to already depleted services and the need to reinvest any funding in local designed services is critical. We have worked with the National Citizen Service extend our support to the team there at this challenging time.

The youth sector continues to be a vital component to delivering improved outcomes with and for young people and we are enthusiastic about the proposal for cross-sector collaborations and young people at the heart of the new strategy.