£100mn of dormant assets funds for improving youth outcomes, & NCS to close
Melanie May | 13 November 2024 | News
The Culture Secretary has confirmed that £100 million from the next tranche of dormant assets funding will be used to deliver youth outcomes between 2024 and 2028, supporting the provision of services, facilities and opportunities across the country.
The Dormant Assets Scheme is expected to release £350 million for England over 2024 and 2028, split between four areas. The other three are: financial includion; social investment wholesalers (including organisations that support improved youth outcomes); and community wealth funds.
The decision was announced yesterday (12 November) by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy as she unveiled plans for a new National Youth Strategy to ensure that the views of young people are included in decision-making on policies that affect them.
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New National Youth Strategy
The Strategy will prioritise delivering better coordinated youth services and policy at a local, regional and national level, and will hand power back to young people and their communities. Nandy said that young people from across the country would be given the opportunity to co-produce a new approach with the government towards the support services, facilities and opportunities they need outside of school to benefit their lives and futures.
This will start with face-to-face engagements to capture their perspectives and aspirations, and a youth advisory board will also be established to work with the government, alongside youth organisations, industry leaders and academics specialising in youth issues.
As well as the £100mn injection of dormant assets funding, more than £85mn will be allocated for more youth facilities. This will include £26mn of new funding for youth clubs to buy new equipment and undertake renovations via the Better Youth Spaces programme. Existing youth centre projects already underway via the Youth Investment Fund will also be completed.
Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy said:
“Through the co-production of a new National Youth Strategy, we will put young people back in charge of their own destiny, starting with better understanding of their lives and needs. This will allow us to shape policy that not only keeps up with the rapidly evolving challenges of today, but is also effective in ensuring that opportunity for young people is abundant in every postcode.”
NCS to wind down
As part of this shift in strategy, the government has also announced that the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme will wind down from March 2025, and The NCS Trust, which operates the scheme, will also close.
A statement on the NCS site said that the Trust was sad and disappointed at the news, adding:
“As one of the most rigorously evaluated youth initiatives in the country, NCS has consistently been shown to have a positive impact on young people – who report improved wellbeing, greater optimism about the future, increased understanding of those who are different to them, and a greater commitment to get involved in social action and volunteering.
“It is our heartfelt belief that there has never been a more important time for the kind of work that NCS delivers. Young people are facing an increasingly uncertain future due to the disproportionate impact of Covid on their generation. The combination of an enduring cost of living crisis and the increasing spread of disinformation is sowing discord and division. We hope that the government will continue to support youth initiatives with an explicit focus on building a cohesive society, and we stand ready to share our insights and learning as the Secretary of State develops her new youth strategy.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.