Over £90M in Youth Investment Fund grants awarded to 43 youth services

Over £90 million of new funding has been announced to 43 youth services to enable thousands of young people in England to access high-quality out of school activities to support their well-being, health, and develop the skills they need for life and work.  You can see all the youth services that have benefited from a Youth Investment Fund grant here.

These are the first grants from the 2nd Phase of the government’s Youth Investment Fund of over £300 million to renew the country’s youth sector.  

To mark the occasion Ruth Hannant, Permanent Secretary for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will meet young people at Brighton Youth Centre today, one of the first 43 youth services in England to be awarded a Young Investment Fund grant. The grant, along with local authority funding, will help Brighton Youth Centre transform its space into a fully accessible, environmentally sustainable, and state-of-the-art facility, open seven days a week. It will give young people more opportunities to improve wellbeing, develop interpersonal skills, grow in confidence, explore their identity, and find a voice. Once work is complete, Brighton Youth Centre will be able to double the number of young people they support, boosting their reach to 3000 young people per week.

Launched in August 2022, the Youth Investment Fund aims to level up some of the most deprived areas in England where youth need is high and provision is low. This will create a level playing field for young people to have equal access to youth services, youth workers and volunteers, and dedicated youth facilities that deliver positive outcomes.  

45 local authorities and around 600 district wards in the most deprived areas of England are eligible to apply for the Youth Investment Fund of over £300M, paving the way for up to 300 youth facilities to be built or renovated over the next three years. This will increase the number of regular positive activities undertaken by young people in the targeted areas by 45,000 per year, by 2026/27. 

The Youth Investment Fund is being delivered by Social Investment Business in partnership with Key Fund, National Youth Agency and Resonance. Fusion21 is the Youth Investment Fund procurement partner.    

Youth voice, quality, sustainability, accessibility, and value for money are at the heart of the Youth Investment Fund projects. The initial 43 projects awarded funding will reach an additional 16,500 young people aged 11 to 18 (up to 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities).  

It means more young people will be supported, empowered, and have new opportunities to have fun, make new friends and enjoy activities like dance, sport, music, art, IT, sailing, catering, theatre, and craft. It’s a unique opportunity to prioritise the needs of young people and for youth services to deliver life-changing services to create a more equal society for future generations. 

Young people are at the heart of the Youth Investment Fund projects, using their ideas, expertise, and experiences to shape the best opportunities for young people. Every Youth Investment Fund project has been assessed by a rigorous and data-driven grant panel as well as being evaluated by a team of trained Young Assessors recruited and supported by the National Youth Agency. Each Youth Investment Fund project must demonstrate the important role young people have played in developing their funding bids.

Ruby is one of the young people that shaped the YMCA’s Stoke on Trent youth service project, one of the 43 youth services awarded a Youth Investment Fund grant today. Ruby shares her experience is co-designing the funded project.

Today’s announcements form the latest part of the Government’s ‘National Youth Guarantee’, that will ensure every young person aged 11-18 in England has access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home, and volunteering opportunities by 2025, backed by an investment of over £500 million.