YMCA England & Wales / Vestey Holdings · 2025
Local authority expenditure on youth services in England has fallen 73% in real terms since 2010-11, representing a £1.2bn cut, while Wales has seen a 27% reduction. The number of council-run youth centres and directly employed youth workers has declined sharply over the same period, with 14% of responding councils reporting no youth centres at all in their area. The report uses Section 251 outturn data, Freedom of Information requests, and Welsh Government datasets to track spending trends, staffing levels, and centre provision across England and Wales. It calls for sustained revenue funding through the new National Youth Strategy to prevent further erosion of youth services.