So what has changed, what matters most about #YouthMatters, the government’s new national youth strategy?
The mantra of somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to was first coined under New Labour over 20 years ago and survived under each government since, from Coalition to Conservative and now the returned Labour government. The original 2005 Youth Matters had five outcomes. Today’s is distilled into four but with the same core ingredients to build skills, be safe, stay healthy and a sense of belonging. This was echoed under the previous Conservative government with skills for life and work, mental and physical wellbeing.
However, years of austerity saw the devastation of youth services and sidelining of youth policies outside of formal education, youth justice and clinical health – and kickstarting youth employment when young people not in education, employment and training has remained stubbornly high. Cash strapped local authorities cut youth provision other than statutory requirements and the escalating costs of children’s social care and SEND.
Those pressures are still live. Yet more than reversing the decline of youth work the new youth strategy pivots on ‘trusted adults’ appropriately trained and skilled across professions and services: every young person to have someone to lean on. In seeking to close the gap of opportunities and participation between young people from richer and poorer families, it restores a tranche of funding that in past years was used to set up and run the National Citizen Service born in the days of the Coalition Government but ended last year by Labour. Actions include the first steps taken to set up Young Futures Hubs, better connecting local services in health, employment and crime prevention, providing early help dubbed ‘Sure Start for Teenagers’.
This is indicative of the major shift in government policy: setting outcomes and expectations of what we want for young people; devolving funding and delivery to local partnerships convened by councils and co-designed with young people. Each action drawing in policies and commitments from across government departments for a wider youth offer, notably enrichment opportunities in schools and a Youth Guarantee in employment.
The strategy is built from a groundswell of opinion not top-down directives. It is a gear shift in what the Labour government is now offering, backed by actions and accountability measures to deliver with and for young people over the next 10 years.
Moving away from New Labour’s performance indicators that measured to the nth degree, the new strategy is built bottom up from an evidence base and collective response from young people – seen and heard – and their lived experience.
The world has changed significantly in 20 years, and continues to change at pace. National challenges needing local solutions. National outcomes set to end a post code lottery of services. Equitable access breaking down barriers to opportunities. National renewal delivered with and by young people, responding to the crisis in metal health, future employment and fear of crime.
Youth voice taken seriously is the catalyst for change. Introducing Votes at 16 may focus political minds, but engaging, galvanising and empowering young people takes so much more. Better connected communities don’t simply reduce isolation, they create a sense of belonging that can be the only long lasting answer to the misogyny and racism that is endemic and promulgated by the algorithms of social media. As an ageing population we rely on the skills and talent of young people today. When unleashed, that is a powerful force for good.
Therefore the biggest change from earlier youth strategies is that it is more than helping the individual to get on in life and their social mobility. It frames a narrative and ambition for us all: it represents a generational shift where young people are seen and heard. With young people put in the driving seat it will deliver a more confident and close knit society – our national renewal.
Jonathan Hopkins is a member of the DCMS Expert Advisory Group for the national youth strategy, and adviser on past government strategies.
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