Our stance
72% of young people consulted agreed with this statement.
What do MSYPs want to see?
- Consistent funding across local authorities.
- More accessible and inclusive spaces.
- Better frameworks for councils to follow in delivering youthwork
- Multi-year funding for youthwork.
- A professional development framework for the youthwork workforce.
What action has SYP taken so far?
The SYP Manifesto 2026-2032, ‘Dear Scotland’s Future‘, set out two policies focused on youth-work, highlighting the importance of the issue to young people across Scotland.
“Local Authorities must provide youth-specific spaces in local communities, with investment put towards cultural, social, and artistic activities where young people can gather and spend time together”.
83% of young people consulted agreed with this statement.
“The Scottish Government and Local Authorities must work together and commit to a secure and multi-year finding model for the youth work sector”.
76% of young people consulted agreed with this statement.
Members engaged with the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government team, which sets out the government’s priorities for the next year. In 2024, MSYPs secured a commitment to “invest in community‑based youth work, focussed on reaching young people outside the classroom and supporting access to education, training, and employment”. Following the publication of the programme, government staff confirmed our calls to action were influential in deciding the commitment towards youth work.
During SYP’s Executive and Cabinet Takeover programme for 2024-2026, MSYPs hosted a youthwork round table and invited young people from a variety of different youthwork organisations in Scotland, as well as top level decision-makers in Government, to attend. Participants discussed four key topics:
- The transparency and accountability of funding at the local level
- Improving professional development opportunities for the workforce
- Considering youth work as part of the larger focus on education reform
- The existence and accessibility of academic research on the benefits of youth work as a preventative measure
A summary report was sent to the Scottish Government’s Community Learning and Development team with the feedback and recommendations for how to better deliver youthwork in Scotland.
During recent Executive Takeover and Cabinet Takeover sessions, MSYPs also spoke to decision-makers about guaranteeing multi-year funding, improving the transparency of local funding decisions so young people can see the pathway from the Government’s funding commitments to how it’s spent by Local Authorities individually, and how more can be done to invest in the professional development of the sector.
The Campaign Planning Group, formed of MSYPs who are leading the campaign, have selected two key aims for the campaign – security of current funding, including the conditions to accessing it and demonstrating the impact of youth work both when young people benefit from it as well as when they miss out on high quality local youth work. Campaign Planning Group Members met with former MSP Martin Whitfield to discuss his proposals for a Private Member’s Bill on the issue – you can read our response to his Youth Work (Scotland) consultation. Alongside, MSYPs have also developed a ‘Youth Work Guide’ to layout what youth work is and why it’s important in order to help other young people engage with local decision-makers and ask for increased funding. The Guide was formed from young people’s direct experiences and responses from a consultation survey.
The Group also wrote to the Director General for Education and Justice (the most senior civil servant, leading on the Government’s youth work plans amongst other things), Neil Rennick, asking for an update on actions taken by Scottish Government to protect youth work. The Director General wrote back laying out the Government’s commitment to youth work, the recent investment they put towards the sector and an update on the Community Learning and Development (CLD)’s Strategic Leadership Board, overseeing delivery in local communities.
In March 2024, a group of MSYPs from island communities spoke with an independent researcher as part of the review into Community Learning and Development. They were asked about their lived experiences of CLD in rural communities and what they think could be done to improve the current offering. SYP also previously responded to the overall consultation on CLD.
Alongside this, SYP’s ‘Youth Work and Me’ report highlighted the importance of youth work in providing young people with opportunities and bringing communities together. However, MSYPs raised budget cuts as well as institutional and cultural barriers as issues facing the youth work sector.
The current situation in Scotland
The past four years have seen a global pandemic, major disruptions to our education system, increasing concerns about the climate emergency, a growing mental health epidemic, a cost-of-living crisis, and many other changes in our day to day lives. Throughout this time, youth work across Scotland has continued to deliver essential support to thousands of young people, despite increasing funding challenges. Young people have told us time and time again about the importance of youth work in their lives and the need for safe and secure spaces and places to meet up, socialise, have fun and access support from trusted adults.
Youth work has undergone significant budget cuts. Between 2016 and 2019 youth services were cut by over £11 million. Since then, data on youth work spending has been unclear, but there have been growing reports from youth workers and young people across Scotland that services are underfunded and closing down. There are fears that this is putting vulnerable young people at risk of losing out on youth work services.
Our next steps
The 2024-2026 campaigns are coming to an end, following two years of great campaigning and advocacy from MSYPs. The Campaign Planning Groups will wrap up all the campaign work, pulling together all the findings, consultation with young people and successes over the last two years and set out some recommendations for the legacy work that will follow. The Campaign Planning Group will soon publish their Youth Work Guide to help other young people campaign on this issue.
SYP will continue to advocate for sustainable and consistent youth work services as well as the ongoing provision of youth-specific spaces. MSYPs will continue to engage with decision-makers on this issue and sit on decision-making bodies to ensure young people’s voices and experiences are centered on all issues impacting them.
Resources
Want to learn more about youth work and the impact it has on young people? Check out these resources:
- YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work.
- Youth Scotland, the national charity for youth work in the community.
- The CLD Talks podcast, a podcast on youth work and community learning and development.
