The Government are today announcing the development and co-production of the national youth strategy. Young people’s needs have never been more complex. Through this strategy, we will improve our understanding of young people’s priorities as well as run an ambitious and wide consultation.
In the coming months this consultation will feed into a report—“Today’s Youth, Tomorrow’s Nation”—detailing young people’s priorities to inform our new approach. The national youth strategy will be published next year.
Through this strategy we will better co-ordinate youth services, as well as move away from one-size-fits-all approaches from Government, bringing power back to young people and their communities and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector.
Given our ambition, we will be winding down the National Citizen Service programme from the end of the financial year and the National Citizen Service Trust when parliamentary time allows. All necessary processes will be followed including engagement with Parliament and His Majesty the King.
The Government are grateful for the valuable contribution of every member of NCS staff and board members, past and present, as well as for the contributions of young people who have engaged with the NCS programme and with the trust all those years. We will work closely with the NCS Trust to ensure there is an orderly transition from the end of the NCS programme to what comes next.
The Government have announced that, in 2025-26, we will increase the total funding for other Department for Culture, Media and Sport youth programmes to ensure young people can continue to access opportunities, no matter where they are from. This includes funding for the local youth transformation pilot to support local authorities to build back lost capability and improve youth offers. We will also allocate over £85 million of capital funding in 2025-26, including launching the £26 million better youth spaces fund and completing the youth investment fund projects.
In addition to this Government funding, £100 million of dormant assets funding will be dedicated to youth outcomes over 2024 to 2028.
This will drive the transition to a future in which young people have choices and chances and local communities are empowered to support a generation to succeed.
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