Supporting young people in the lead up to the General Election

There will be a General Election between now and January 2025. Although we do not know when this will be called yet, it is an important time for everyone across the UK to have their say on who should be running the country and their local area, writes Kate Roberts, UK Youth policy manager.

In February 2024 we asked our Just One Question on this topic – how can we engage young people in the upcoming General Election likely to take place in 2024?

The breakdown of responses to this question told us youth practitioners want to see lots of different things to help engage young people.

Some 58 per cent told us they wanted guides and resources that help young people to understand the political parties and the electoral system in the UK, while 46 per cent want advice and guidance on supporting young people to advocate for the issues they care about and 44 per cent wanted strategies and guidance for encouraging young people to register to vote and encouraging turnout.

A total of 38 per cent wanted advice and guidance on talking to young people about difficult and politically divisive topics and 18 per cent want a mechanism or platform to connect with other youth workers and practitioners on this topic.

We have already set up some new initiatives and activities in response to the question.

We recently ran sessions on talking to young people about politics with The Politics Project, and a webinar with My Life My Say on their #GiveAnX campaign encouraging young people to vote, and to register to vote.

Democracy Classroom is also running regular youth practitioner sessions for youth practitioners to connect about their work – please check The Politics Project’s Eventbrite for upcoming sessions. We are aiming to do more in this space, so please do keep an eye on our socials and newsletters for updates.

We wanted to share a run down of some exciting projects happening across the youth sector in the lead up to the General Election.

Our Generation. Our Vote. is a political education programme, culminating in a mass-scale election specifically for young people under-18, across England and Wales.

It will run in the lead up to the next UK general election through a partnership of organisations across the youth democracy and education sectors.

The project will give children and young people the opportunity to cast a vote for parliamentary candidates in their area after engaging with workshops, events and youth-friendly manifestos designed to build their understanding of the political process.

The results will be announced ahead of the adult general election, creating space for children’s voices at a crucial moment in our democratic process – telling the public and decision makers which political parties young people would vote for, and which issues influenced the way they voted.

The project has designed to be run in a youth setting. You can find out more information and sign up here. If you have questions, please contact team@ourgenerationourvote.org.uk. There will be a Q&A webinar on Thursday, April 25, for which you can sign up here.

Over-16s can register to vote now in preparation to vote when they turn 18, while in certain places in the UK, 16-year-olds can vote in some elections.

Give an X is a youth-led, non-partisan youth voter registration campaign designed to get every single young person registered to vote and into polling booths for the next election.

Founded by My Life My Say, the #iWill Movement and Shape History, Give an X brings together individuals, institutions, brands, and organisations to register new voters across the country and advance civic education for young people to build an informed and engaged electorate for today and generations to come.

Led by its dynamic youth steering group, carefully selected through a competitive process in early 2024, Give an X boasts 10 vibrant individuals, each hailing from diverse regions of the UK.

These young leaders embody a range of lived experiences, all sharing one commonality: prior to their involvement, they were not registered voters.

The campaign is unapologetically led by young people, for young people. A youth steering group has guided the campaign from its inception, closely co-creating its design and narrative strategy.

Give an X spokespeople include young people from across the country ready to step up and ensure young voices are heard during a critical year of elections.

Check out the Give an X website to find out more about how you can get involved in the campaign.

There are so many things happening across the youth sector and democracy sector.

Do let us know if you spot more, or if your organisation wants to share their work and we can add them.

We will continue to share resources leading up to the election. If you want to share projects and resources, or have any questions, please contact Kate Roberts, UK Youth policy manager, at kate.roberts@ukyouth.org

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 reaches more than four million young people across the UK and is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is 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