Youth Services in the UK

Youth services (also known as ‘youth work’) cover a broad range of activities for young people outside of formal education, including youth clubs and centres, uniformed and voluntary organisations, youth counselling, outreach, and drug and alcohol services. These services may be open to all young people (universal services) or aimed at specific groups(targeted services).

Young people are commonly understood to be those between childhood and adulthood, but age definitions vary by country. For example The UN defines young people for statistical purposes (PDF) as aged between 15 and 25.

The countries of the United Kingdom tend to consider people aged between 11 and 19 (25 for those with special educational needs) to be young people.

Youth services is a devolved policy area throughout the UK. In England, Wales and Scotland local authorities (LAs) have most of the responsibility for providing youth services. In Northern Ireland the Education Authority has responsibility for youth services. Local authorities are usually not obliged to fund these services and there is limited dedicated funding from central government.  For instance, in England, central government funding includes the Youth Investment fund, and the National Citizen Service.

The benefits from youth services can be difficult to identify and even harder to quantify. However, it has been argued that benefits may include improved mental health and self-esteem, friendship, skills and experiences, improved employment prospects, and reductions in youth crime and violence. Section three highlights some of the research into the benefits of youth services, the impact of spending reductions and the links with youth crime and violence. This briefing summarises the statutory duties and government policies in different parts of the UK. Section one looks at England and contains information about funding in England. Section two covers Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.