A Fair Deal for Young People: Reflections from the Liberal Democrat Conference

UK’s policy and influencing manager, Kate Roberts, spent the first half of this week in Brighton where the Liberal Democrat Party was holding its annual conference.

Buoyed after electing the most MPs the Liberal Democrats had ever had this summer, there was a real positive energy at the party’s conference in the Brighton Centre – and lots of new decision-makers looking to make their mark on the issues they care about, writes Kate Roberts, UK Youth policy manager.

As usual, there was a range of fringe events taking place alongside the official party business, including an event on the role of education policy in supporting children’s wellbeing and mental health hosted by the Social Market Foundation and Policy@Manchester, as well as an event by the Education Policy Institute and Local Trust on shaping young lives – tackling geographic inequalities at the neighbourhood level.

It was really positive to see the role of youth work, extracurricular activities and enrichment brought into focus in each of these events, although what was lacking was the presence of young people in the room to bring their perspective and experience.

To round off the conference on Tuesday, the National Youth Agency, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and YMCA England & Wales hosted an event titled ‘A Fair Deal for Young People: Championing Youth Work and Enrichment’.

It was fantastic to hear the perspectives from Katrina, a youth ambassador from the DofE, and the rest of the panel on the importance of youth work in supporting young people. An interesting discussion and Q&A session ensued, with clear enthusiasm for increasing funding and availability of youth services for all young people. The Liberal Democrats’ manifesto supported these aims and it will be good to see them continue to champion the cause in Parliament.

Alongside attending these events, and connecting with sector experts and local councillors, we also met with two MPs; John Milne, member for Horsham, and Helen Maguire, member for Epsom and Ewell – both newly elected in the summer and both keen to support this area of work. We shared about the work of UK Youth and what we need to see from the new Government.

It was a great start to conference season, with some really positive engagement. We are looking forward to continuing speaking with decision makers at the upcoming conferences and championing youth voices!

This year, UK Youth is also attending the Labour and Conservative party conferences later this month and will share our experiences here.

UK Youth would like to see the Government prioritise youth work as a solution to the challenges facing young people. We are talking to MPs, ministers and shadow ministers about:   

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