Morning, Thursday, 12th March 2026
Online
This conference will examine the Government’s forthcoming National Youth Strategy, looking at practical considerations, and the way forward for empowering young people in decisions about policy that will affect their future, enhancing their access to opportunities, and improving their safety and wellbeing.
Sessions in the agenda assess the strategy, looking at issues for implementation as well as best practice and the roles of key stakeholders, development of the youth sector, and provision of extracurricular activities and support for young people to progress into further study and employment.
Investment & delivery
Areas for discussion include priorities for long‑term investment in coordinated youth work and services, and alignment with wider policy objectives for skills and employment, social mobility, health and wellbeing, and safer communities. Frameworks for co‑delivery with young people put forward in the strategy will also be assessed, as well as establishing clarity on roles and responsibilities within government, local authorities, charities, and wider society.
With a National Youth Agency paper published earlier this year calling on national and local government to embed youth work in core policy and funding decisions, delegates will consider best practice examples of designing and implementing effective place-based youth work that reflects the diverse needs of communities.
Delegates will also consider how investment can best be targeted, including the £820m for the Youth Guarantee Scheme announced in the 2025 Autumn Budget, as well as ensuring equitable access across the regions.
Supporting co-production with young people & the youth work profession
Attendees will consider priorities for the work of the Youth Advisory Group in bringing to bear the voice of young people and their lived experience on development of the strategy, as well as in delivery, including supporting the shift in decision-making away from a one-size-fits-all approach to serve the needs of individuals and communities.
Strategic priorities for developing the youth work profession and their skills will also be assessed. Delegates will assess options for investment in regional projects and improving the capability of youth work teams. New approaches to addressing challenges faced in training and recruitment will be examined, as well as priorities for retaining skilled practitioners alongside creating new professional routes, considering how to ensure that youth work is recognised as a valued career and that services are equipped to meet rising demand.
Curriculum enrichment, extracurricular activities & equitable inclusion
Further sessions will focus on how the strategy might align with wider policy objectives on education, skills, physical and mental health, and community development.
With the Prime Minister announcing £88m of funding to support youth clubs and enable schools to offer more extracurricular activities, delegates will assess strategies for improving equitable access to opportunity. Support needed to tackle regional disparities in the delivery of extracurricular provision will be assessed, alongside next steps for rollout of the new core enrichment offer committed to by government in their recent response to Curriculum and Assessment Review, which recommended that every school and college should be aiming to provide beyond the mandated curriculum.
It will be an opportunity to discuss best practice for schools and colleges in embedding enrichment and improving participation, strategic approaches to partnerships with national organisations, private providers, and employers, as well as meeting the funding and infrastructure needs of institutions to ensure equal access.
Tackling youth inactivity & supporting careers and progression
With the Independent Report into Young People and Work - commissioned by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn - expected to report in summer 2026, delegates will also assess how delivery of the strategy and wider policy initiatives can support youth progression into employment and future study, as well as tackling the drivers of inactivity.
Areas for discussion include tailored support to this group through coordinated interventions, including examining the drivers behind the rise in NEET young people, and options for taking forward measures set out in the Government’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper in addressing this, such as through enhanced careers guidance and clear progression routes.
The rollout of existing related initiatives will also be assessed, such as the expansion of Creative Futures dedicated to unlocking creative careers for young people, and those announced in the Building Creative Futures package. This includes early indications from the Local Youth Transformation Pilot on improving local authority capabilities to meet their statutory duty to deliver effective youth services, and from Phase 1 of the Better Youth Spaces programme.
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates.
