Health, wealth and happiness – all thanks to youth work

Young people who engage in youth work make for healthier, wealthier and happier adults. 

That is one of the findings from a suite of Government-funded research, backed by national youth work charity UK Youth. 

The ground-breaking research into the long-term impact of youth work, commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has found a clear association between participation in youth provision and positive outcomes relating to physical health and wellbeing, pro-social behaviours and education. 

The analysis has followed participants for decades and found young people who received youth work support as teenagers were happier, healthier, wealthier and more active in their communities as adults, compared with those who did not – and there is strong evidence these outcomes are sustained over decades. 

Jacob Diggle, UK Youth chief impact officer, said: “We now have the strongest evidence that has ever existed to show the positive benefits of youth work are not just true in the short-term, but are sustained into adulthood. 

“We’ve often said youth work sets young people up for life and now we have evidence to prove it. 

“If you are a young person who engaged in youth work as a teenager, compared with someone from exactly the same background as you who didn’t have access to youth work, whether you’re from a very disadvantaged background or a very affluent background, you are happier, healthier and wealthier as an adult than you were if you didn’t have youth work. 

“We often talk about the need to invest in prevention, rather than just acute services. This is demonstrating youth work is one of the most effective preventative interventions we’ve got.” 

However, despite this strong evidence of youth work’s life-changing impact, the research also found there have been drastic cuts to funding and the availability of youth services in recent years – linked to a rise in crime. 

The studies found funding for youth work has fallen by more than 60 per cent in a decade. From 2011-21, local authority youth provision funding in England fell in real terms from £1,058.2 million to £408.5m. 

And when this preventative support is taken away, young people are more vulnerable to crime and other anti-social behaviour. Reductions in local youth provision are associated with a rise in certain types of crime and anti-social behaviour, including bike thefts, weapon possession offences and shoplifting.  

UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of more than 8,000 youth organisations and nation partners; UK Youth is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change needed now more than ever. To find out more, visit ukyouth.org 

UK Youth is involved in a range of programmes designed to help young people thrive, such as outdoor learning, physical literacy, social action and employability, including Hatch, a youth employability programme run in partnership with KFC. For more on UK Youth’s programmes, see ukyouth.org/what-we-do/programmes