Youth voice finds a new home

Following two months of uncertainty, the immediate future of the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) has been secured after the National Youth Agency (NYA) agreed to step in to run the body for the next 10 months.

The future of the government’s flagship youth voice initiative was thrown into doubt following the sudden closure in March of the British Youth Council (BYC), which had been its host body for more than a decade.

The BYC, a pillar of the youth sector for 75 years, ran into financial difficulties following the loss of several funding streams including a £70,000 a year deal with the Body Shop. It won a £750,000 two-year contract from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to run the UKYP from April 2023 to March 2025.

Since the BYC’s closure on 21 March, DCMS officials have been holding talks with the NYA, UKYP members and other bodies to find a solution that would enable the youth parliament to continue its work in the short term and lay the foundations for a longer-term arrangement to be put in place that covers other aspects of BYC’s work.

NYA steps in

Youth sector leaders close to the discussions say the process of finding a new host organisation has taken longer than hoped, but welcome the NYA’s appointment.

“The NYA is the right organisation to be stepping in,” says Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP for Brighton, Kemptown and vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for youth affairs.

Hadyn Cutler, member of the youth parliament (MYP) for Kent, says the NYA is a “fitting and well-placed partner” to aid the transition to longer-term arrangements.

“While this is only a contract for 2024/25, it will allow us to figure out the future in greater detail…allowing the best provider to be picked later down the line, whether that be the NYA or another organisation,” he wrote on his website.

However, Cutler says the process “has resulted in much stress and anxiety among the youth voice community, especially MYPs”, and says lessons must be learned.

“Mistakes were made along the way and those should be reflected on,” he writes. “I hope DCMS adequately reviews what got us to the point of BYC [closing], how that can be prevented and how the transition process can be more smoothly handled in the future.”

Contract details

Under the terms of the deal with the DCMS, the NYA will receive the same amount of grant funding ringfenced for the UKYP as was awarded to the BYC under the two-year £750,000 contract. The NYA says the funding will enable the MYPs to undertake their core activities including attending the annual conference at which they will consider their manifesto priorities and their subsequent sitting at the Houses of Parliament to debate the issues identified in their manifesto.

“This work is possible as NYA has the networks with the sector and regional partners, together with an understanding of effective and safe youth participation to fulfil the requirements of the role,” says Leigh Middleton, NYA chief executive.

He says the NYA has worked closely with existing delivery partners, the regional youth work units in England, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Children in Wales, and consultants in Northern Ireland to ensure the support infrastructure is in place to enable MYPs to fulfil their elected roles.

In addition, the NYA has said it will source extra funding to help deliver the UKYP. This could be crucial for the new arrangements to be successful – former BYC staff members previously told CYP Nowthat the most recent contract failed to cover the costs of its work, with the charity using reserves to cover an alleged shortfall of at least £120,000.

Next steps

Russell-Moyle is in no doubt that “BYC tried to do too much” and that this should be reflected in the new arrangements.

“The NYA is putting a lot of resources into this [but] it will need to pare down [the work done under] the contract and do less but better,” he says, adding that this should be done as part of a “pathway to break even”.

Russell-Moyle says there needs to be more collaboration between the UKYP and youth parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The DCMS plans to run a series of consultation events later in the year to gather views across the sector on the long-term future of the youth parliament and youth voice in general.

The NYA says discussion with “parliamentary authorities” are ongoing over the role of the youth select committee, which was covered by the BYC contract. The committee is made up of 12 young people aged 14 to 18 who meet regularly and undertake inquiries into important public issues.

A meeting is planned for 6 June in London involving representatives from 120 youth sector organisations across the UK to discuss taking forward other aspects of the BYC’s work including campaigns and international activities – the event coincides with the next Council of Europe meeting.

“We will talk about the campaigns that need to continue and the structure we want to see going forward,” adds Russell-Moyle.