A Lost Generation
Updated: 4 days ago
Youth-service spending in England has fallen dramatically
year on year local-authority spending on services for young people, has steadily been in decline.
Using figures reported by the House of Commons Library this is what was found.
There has been a 68% cut in spending on youth services in England spending fell from £1.074 billion in 2011/12 to £349 million in 2023/24 after accounting for inflation.
That's a 68% real-terms reduction. Universal/open-access youth services were hit even harder, falling 73%, compared with a 63% reduction in targeted services.
Below is a graph representing the cuts in real time.
Further more 95% of councils cut youth-service spending, Government-commissioned research found that between 2011 and 2021, 95% of local authorities reduced their real-terms spending on youth services by at least 25%. The same government research found that the average number of youth clubs supported by an individual local authority fell from 14 in 2011/12 to 8 in 2018/19. And more than half of council-run youth centres have disappeared The YMCA's analysis of this found that England had 54% fewer local-authority-run youth centres in 2023/24 than in 2010/11.
Along with this youth workers have also been cut substantially
There were around 34% fewer full-time-equivalent youth workers in England in 2023/24 than in 2012/13, according to YMCA's analysis. The newer 2026 YMCA analysis puts the longer-term decline at roughly half of local-authority youth workers since 2012/13
The data doesn't lie
The worrying part! A major study commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) examined changes in youth-service spending across local authorities in England. Found that one year after a reduction in youth-service expenditure, local authorities experienced increases in several types of offending, including:
* bicycle theft
* shoplifting
* possession of weapons
* and a higher proportion of young offenders reoffending.
The researchers specifically concluded that the increases were statistically associated with reductions in youth-service spending
But why is this significant? it's significant because its not some charity or organisation like our self arguing the case of the importance of youth centres its the governments own commissioned research analysing the data that has shown this .
A 2024 study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which looked specifically at youth-club closures caused by austerity In London, found that
approximately 30% of youth clubs closed between 2010 and 2019.
The researchers compared areas where youth clubs closed with otherwise similar areas where young people retained access to a club.
They found. Young people aged 10–17 became 14% more likely to commit a crime following the closure of their local youth club. The offending rate increased from approximately 14 to 16 young offenders per 1,000 young people. The increases were particularly pronounced for theft, robbery, shoplifting, drug offences and violent crime.
in simple terms
Youth-service cuts + youth-club closures + lower educational attainment = increased offending
The research estimates that for every £1 saved by cutting youth services, the resulting societal costs were almost £3, including increased crime and reduced future earnings.
Something has got to give and we think it's time for change.
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