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What impact does regularly attending youth clubs have for young people?
14 March 2024
- Latest news
Three new research reports, collectively called the Youth Evidence Base, have been published which help highlight the positive impact youth work has on young people.
Commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, UK Youth is proud to have worked on this research with three partners: SQW, the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and the University of Warwick. We were also supported by a fantastic Youth Panel, convened by UK Youth, who helped design our research approaches and interpret findings.
The Youth Evidence Base comprises three studies:
- Youth provision and life outcomes: A study of longitudinal research analyses five different longitudinal datasets and finds a clear association between participation in youth provision and positive short- and longer-term outcomes relating to physical health and wellbeing, pro-social behaviours and education;
- Youth provision and life outcomes: Systematic literature review looks at what international evidence says about the impact of open access youth provision on young people. The review provides evidence showing that youth activities have beneficial impacts for young people across a range of personal, social, educational, and economic outcomes;
- Youth provision and life outcomes: A study of the local impact of youth clubs sought to expand understanding of how changes in local youth provision have shaped outcomes for young people and their wider communities. The research looks at local authority spending and finds that, during the period 2011 to 2021, local authority youth funding in England more than halved and that, during a similar period, the number of youth clubs nearly halved. In this context, youth work has had to change. Specifically, it has become more targeted, with a growing reliance on volunteers who increasingly fill gaps left by a lack of professional youth workers.
The Youth Evidence Base adds to a growing body of robust evidence about, a), the impact the youth sector generates for young people and, b), the significant challenges the youth sector faces.
In light of our findings, DCMS has recommissioned SQW and UK Youth to examine how the changing shape of the youth workforce is affecting the role that volunteers play in sustaining youth services.
About us
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 various 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