Research reports

Mental health and wellbeing

Children's and Young People's Mental Health Services 2024-25 (Annual Briefing)

Children's Commissioner for England · 2026

Over one million children in England had active referrals to Children and Young People's Mental Health Services (CYPMHS) in 2024-25, nearly double the figure from 2018-19. The fastest-growing referral reasons were suspected Autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions, yet these children faced the longest waits and were least likely to receive treatment. Median waiting time for all children was 128 days, with 16% of those still waiting at year-end having waited more than two years. The report calls for a joint national strategy between DHSC and DfE focused on prevention, early intervention, and clearer pathways for children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Secondary analysisSurveyEngland

Health and physical wellbeing

Young People Missing From Vaccine Services

YouthLink Scotland · 2026

This Scottish study explored why young people aged 11–18 are missing from vaccine services, examining their attitudes, knowledge, and barriers to vaccination. Key findings show that fears about needles and side effects, embarrassment, parental influence, and lack of clear information are the main barriers. Young people overwhelmingly trust NHS healthcare professionals for vaccine information and want honest, reassuring campaigns delivered in schools and on TikTok, with more private spaces provided when vaccines are administered.

SurveyFocus groupScotland

Health and physical wellbeing

Young People's Consumption of Alcohol-Free and Low Alcohol Drinks in Family Settings

Alcohol Change UK · 2026

This mixed-methods study examined how alcohol-free and low-alcohol ('no/low') drinks are perceived, used, and shaped within family and social contexts in Great Britain, focusing on adolescents aged 12–17 and young adults aged 16–25. Using a nationally representative survey (the Alcohol Toolkit Study) and in-depth ethnographic interviews with 14 parent–adolescent dyads, the study found that no/low drink use is relatively rare among young people (around 15% monthly use among 16–25-year-olds), with adolescents and parents largely viewing these products as irrelevant to young people. There was no clear evidence of a gateway effect to alcohol consumption, nor convincing evidence of public health benefit; adolescents consuming no/low drinks first did not report significantly earlier alcohol initiation or greater alcohol use, though there was uncertain evidence of a delay in first drunkenness by around six months. Acceptability of adolescent no/low use was highest in family settings and lowest among peers.

SurveyInterviewUK-wide

Health and physical wellbeing

Views on gambling, gaming and cryptocurrency: survey report, February 2025

Young Scot · 2025

This survey by Young Scot and Fast Forward explored young people's views on gambling, gaming, and cryptocurrency, with 406 respondents across Scotland. Key findings show that 91% had played video games in the last year, 22% had gambled in the past 12 months, and 83% had heard of cryptocurrency. The report highlights concerns about loot boxes, addiction, financial harm, and barriers to seeking help — notably that 40% of respondents worried their parents would find out if they sought gambling support. Recommendations include improving access to information and clarifying confidentiality for young people seeking support.

SurveyScotland

Mental health and wellbeing

Truth About Youth: our 2025 insights survey

Young Scot · 2025

Young Scot surveyed 2,590 young people aged 11–25 across Scotland between September 2024 and January 2025 on a wide range of issues including wellbeing, safety, health, climate change, cyber crime, and children's rights. Most respondents could identify something to look forward to, but 43% said their mental health had worsened since 2019, and only 16% felt that policy and decision makers understood the issues facing young people. The most pressing concerns were lack of affordable housing, poverty, racism and prejudice, and the climate emergency, with education identified as the most important issue for young people in Scotland right now.

SurveyScotland

Employment, skills and economic security

The Youth Guarantee and the benefits system: challenges, opportunities, and changes needed

Learning and Work Institute · 2025

This report examines how the UK benefits system interacts with the government's Youth Guarantee in England, which aims to support 18–21-year-olds who are NEET into work or training. Using data analysis of DWP benefits data, desk research, stakeholder interviews, and focus groups with young people, the report finds that over 880,000 16–24-year-olds in England claim benefits, with significant geographic variation and a sharp post-pandemic rise in health-related claims. It identifies key challenges—including stigma, inflexibility, inadequate financial support, and poor integration between Jobcentre Plus and local partners—and makes detailed recommendations to reform the system so it better supports young people's pathways to sustainable employment.

Young people consultedSecondary analysisInterviewEngland

Employment, skills and economic security

South Yorkshire NEET Report Version 1: barriers to education, employment and training (EET)

Sheffield City Council · 2025

This report presents findings from a survey of 169 NEET young people aged 16–24 across Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, conducted between July and September 2025. The most prominent barriers to engaging in education, employment or training (EET) were mental health challenges, lack of qualifications, confidence issues, and bad past experiences with school or work. Young people with mental health challenges reported an average of 5.1 barriers per person — three to four times more than those without — highlighting mental health as a key multiplier of disadvantage. The report recommends integrating emotional wellbeing and neurodiversity-inclusive practice into all re-engagement services, alongside practical enablers such as transport support and financial assistance.

SurveyMixed methodsYorkshire & the Humber

Employment, skills and economic security

Youth Voice Census 2025: Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Regional Report

Youth Employment UK · 2025

This regional report presents findings from 534 young people aged 11–30 in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, drawn from the 2025 Youth Voice Census. Key findings show that only 38% of young people in the region can access mental health support when needed, fewer than half feel safe in their local area, and transport costs and reliability are significant barriers to work and learning. While young people demonstrate strong skills confidence and above-average interest in green jobs, they lack work experience, have a weak sense of belonging compared to national averages, and face geographic inequalities in access to opportunities.

SurveyFocus groupYorkshire & the Humber

Mental health and wellbeing

Young Scot BIG Survey 2023-24

Young Scot · 2025

Young Scot's first BIG Survey gathered views from 2,014 young people aged 11–25 across Scotland between September 2023 and January 2024. The survey found that while young people felt broadly positive about family and friends, only 18% felt great about how things were going in Scotland, and 62% felt negative about the world. Mental health was the top concern for personal health (35%), with 47% reporting their mental health had worsened since 2019; other key findings covered digital and AI use, awareness of rights under the UNCRC, and financial pressures including 74% always looking to cut costs.

SurveyScotland

Gender and sexuality

Children, Violence and Vulnerability 2025 — Report 2: Relationships

Youth Endowment Fund · 2025

This report presents findings from a large annual survey of nearly 11,000 13–17-year-olds in England and Wales about violence in teenage relationships. It finds that two in five teens who had been in a relationship in the past year experienced some form of emotional or physical abuse, with rates high for both girls and boys. Teens exposed to sexually violent content online, or to abuse at home, were significantly more likely to hold permissive attitudes toward sexual aggression and to commit relationship abuse themselves. The report highlights the need for relationship education in schools and evidence-based bystander and prevention programmes.

Young people consultedSurveyEnglandWales

Employment, skills and economic security

Youth Voice Census Report 2025

Youth Employment UK · 2025

The 2025 Youth Voice Census gathered responses from over 8,200 young people aged 11–30 across the UK, exploring their experiences of wellbeing, education, employment, and life in their local communities. The report finds that young people are increasingly "stuck in the middle" — neither thriving nor failing — with rising anxiety, stagnating life satisfaction, and a growing sense of disengagement. Key concerns include declining access to careers education, work experience, and extracurricular opportunities, alongside persistent inequalities affecting NEET young people, those eligible for free school meals, and those with additional needs. The report calls for five urgent actions from government and employers, including a Young Person's Entitlement, improved employer engagement, and a national digital support hub.

SurveyFocus groupUK-wide

Mental health and wellbeing

Children, Violence and Vulnerability 2025 — Report 3: Mental Health

Youth Endowment Fund · 2025

This report from the Youth Endowment Fund presents findings from a survey of nearly 11,000 13–17-year-olds in England and Wales on the links between experiences of violence and mental health. It finds that over a quarter of teenagers have high or very high mental health difficulties, with rates dramatically higher among those involved in serious violence — nearly two-thirds of perpetrators of serious violence had self-harmed or considered suicide. Despite the scale of need, over half of those with a diagnosed mental health condition were receiving no professional support, with many on waiting lists; in the absence of formal help, teenagers — especially those affected by violence — are increasingly turning to online resources including AI chatbots.

Young people consultedSurveyEnglandWales

Education, learning and attainment

Mind the Engagement Gap: A National Study of Pupil Engagement in England's Schools

ImpactEd Group · 2025

This large-scale national study surveyed over 81,000 pupils across 200 schools in England during the 2024–25 academic year to measure cognitive, emotional, and behavioural engagement. Key findings show that school enjoyment falls sharply at the Year 6–7 transition (average score dropping from 6.0 to 3.8), and continues to decline through secondary school. Disadvantaged pupils, White pupils, and girls (particularly around anxiety) show notably lower or worsening engagement scores, while higher engagement is strongly associated with lower persistent absence among secondary pupils.

SurveySecondary analysisEngland

Mental health and wellbeing

National Youth Strategy Research Project: Young Person's Report

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) · 2025

This report summarises findings from a large-scale consultation with over 14,000 young people aged 10–21 (or up to 25 with SEND) in England, conducted to inform the government's National Youth Strategy. Young people identified five key themes: wellbeing, community, skills and opportunities, safety and security, and youth voice. Top concerns included mental health access, financial insecurity, lack of community spaces, online safety, and feeling unheard in decisions that affect their lives. The report highlights that challenges are interconnected and locally shaped, and calls for greater government investment in mental health services, recreational spaces, and life skills education.

Co-producedSurveyFocus groupEngland

Care experience and family

Behind the Behaviour: Understanding Children's Violent Behaviour Towards Their Parents

Action for Children · 2025

This report analyses data from Action for Children's Parent Talk service, drawing on 318,866 parent contacts and 362 one-to-one coaching chats between 2022 and 2025, to examine rising demand for support around children's violent or abusive behaviour towards caregivers. It finds that demand for this support has risen 51% since 2022, and identifies strong links between children's violent behaviour and unmet SEND and mental health needs, school transitions, and emotionally-based school avoidance. Parents describe exhaustion, shame, and isolation, compounded by fragmented statutory services with high thresholds and long waiting times. The report recommends joined-up government action to treat children's violent behaviour as a safeguarding issue driven by unmet needs, and to improve early help access for families with adolescent children.

Secondary analysisOtherUK-wide

Education, learning and attainment

The Children's Plan: The Children's Commissioner's School Census (Sept 2025)

Children's Commissioner for England (Dame Rachel de Souza) · 2025

A landmark census of nearly 19,000 state-funded schools and colleges in England — representing 86% of all such settings — found that schools are increasingly filling gaps left by underfunded wider children's services, providing mental health, social care, and community support far beyond their core teaching role. The report reveals wide variation in pastoral provision by region and deprivation level, and shows that funding shortfalls, lack of specialist staff, and poor data sharing prevent schools from fully meeting pupils' additional needs. The Commissioner makes seven major recommendations for reform, including a national 'additional needs' framework, a new Children's Plan digital platform, a core specialist support offer for all schools, and reformed Education, Health and Care Plans.

SurveySecondary analysisEngland

Employment, skills and economic security

PwC Youth Employment Index 2025

PwC UK Economics Team · 2025

The 2025 PwC Youth Employment Index finds the UK has fallen to 27th place among OECD economies, marking the steepest decline in the G7, as youth unemployment has risen to 15.3% and economic inactivity among young people has hit a 20-year high of around 3 million. The report finds no statistically significant link between AI adoption and overall youth unemployment, though early warning signs are visible in the IT and business services sectors where entry-level and graduate roles have declined sharply. One in eight young people are now classified as NEET — the highest rate in a decade — and the report estimates that reducing regional disparities in NEET rates could add £13–26 billion to UK GDP. The analysis draws on ONS Labour Force Survey data, OECD statistics, and an econometric model to assess the relative roles of cyclical labour market cooling and AI adoption in driving these trends.

Secondary analysisOtherUK-wide

Health and physical wellbeing

A Breath of Fresh Air: A Smoke Free Future (Youth views on Tobacco and Vapes Bill, 16-25-year-old advisory group)

Partnership for Young London · 2025

This report explores young Londoners' and senior health stakeholders' views on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which aims to phase out tobacco sales to anyone born after January 2009. Two-thirds of young survey respondents supported the Bill, welcoming its focus on reducing addiction, improving health, and addressing inequalities, while also raising concerns about black markets and unregulated alternatives. Stakeholders broadly agreed on the public health benefits but flagged enforcement challenges and risks of unintended consequences. The research was conducted by a youth advisory group of 16–25-year-olds acting as peer researchers, alongside interviews with senior professionals.

Co-producedSurveyFocus groupLondon

Health and physical wellbeing

Healthcare Transition Report 2024-2025

Barnardo's (NHS Young Researchers / NHS Youth Forum) · 2025

This report by NHS Young Researchers (part of the NHS Youth Forum) investigates young people's experiences of transitioning between paediatric and adult NHS services. Surveying 106 young people and 16 parents/carers, the research found that no respondents began transition within the NHS-recommended age window of 11–13; the average start age was 16.6 years, and many experienced abrupt, unstructured handovers with poor communication between services. Key harms included young people being left without any healthcare support, negative mental health impacts, and a gap in provision for 16–18-year-olds. The report recommends national transition policy reform, better communication between services, holistic person-centred care, and healthcare worker training led by young people with lived experience.

Co-producedSurveyMixed methodsEngland

Employment, skills and economic security

Wasted Youth: Helping Britain's Young Adults into Work

Centre for Social Justice · 2025

Nearly one million 16–24-year-olds in the UK are NEET — an increase of around 200,000 since the pandemic — with payrolled employment for under-25s still below pre-pandemic levels. The report identifies two main groups driving the rise: young people who are economically inactive due to sickness (predominantly mental/emotional and cognitive difficulties) and so-called 'other' NEETs who have minimal contact with government services and are largely from low-to-middle-income households. Drawing on secondary analysis of the LFS, FRS and UKHLS, plus a commissioned GP poll and focus groups with frontline charities, the CSJ argues that the current welfare system traps sick NEETs in inactivity and proposes a Future Workforce Credit — paying employers 30% of a NEET's salary — alongside expanded Connect to Work and SWAPs to reverse the rise in NEETs.

Secondary analysisFocus groupUK-wide

Health and physical wellbeing

Accessing Care: Health, Hope and Change for Care-Experienced Young People (Pan-London Children in Care Council, NHS NEL ICB)

Partnership for Young London · 2025

This report explores the barriers care-experienced young people face when accessing healthcare services in North East London, drawing on focus groups and interviews with young people and senior NHS leaders. Key findings highlight long waits for mental health services, abrupt transitions at age 18, poor continuity of care, low awareness of entitlements such as free prescriptions, and a systemic lack of care-aware training among frontline staff. Young people reported that services are frequently designed around assumptions of family support, which care leavers often lack. The report makes six recommendations including mandatory care-aware training co-produced with young people, portable records with named coordinators, simplified entitlements, and an unsupported patient pathway for those without family networks.

Co-producedFocus groupInterviewLondon

Employment, skills and economic security

Living precariously: Young Women's Experiences of Insecure Work

Young Women's Trust · 2025

This report by Young Women's Trust explores the gendered dimensions of insecure work among young women and non-binary people aged 18–30 in England and Wales. It finds that young women are more likely than young men to work in low-paid insecure sectors such as hospitality and health and social care, to feel trapped in insecure work, and to face workplace discrimination they feel unable to challenge. Almost half of young women reported feeling forced into insecure work due to their circumstances, and 40% said their mental health worsened while in insecure roles. The report calls on government and employers to strengthen workers' rights, enforce existing protections, improve flexible working options, and expand skills development for insecure workers.

Co-producedSurveyFocus groupEnglandWales

Environment and climate

Children in Wales Youth Peer Research Project: Sustainability and Poverty Co-Production

Children in Wales / Youth Peer Researchers · 2025

This youth-led peer research project, conducted by eight young people aged 13–18 in Wales, investigated the barriers to eco-friendly behaviour among children and young people across Wales. Using a bilingual survey (816 responses) and five focus groups (53 participants), the researchers found that most young people care about the environment but face significant barriers including cost, lack of accessible eco-friendly options, peer and family influence, and limited or repetitive environmental education in schools. The report recommends that the government improve public transport, make eco-friendly products more affordable, increase funding for local environmental projects, and give young people more of a voice in decision-making.

Youth-ledSurveyFocus groupWales

Civic participation and youth voice

In Our Own Words: Research Exploring the Needs and Preferences of Young People and Youth Practitioners in England

UK Youth · 2025

This report presents findings from qualitative research commissioned by the National Citizen Service (NCS) and conducted by UK Youth to explore the needs and preferences of young people and youth practitioners across England in relation to youth provision. Key findings include strong support for open-access, centre-based youth provision as a foundation for wellbeing and development; unmet demand for one-to-one mentoring and mental health support; and significant workforce and funding pressures in the sector. The report also examines how digital tools are being used in youth work and highlights the challenges practitioners face in keeping young people safe online, particularly in the context of the 2024 racist riots in England.

InterviewFocus groupEngland

Results