The YEF surveyed 10,000 children aged between 13 and 17 in England and Wales and found that those who had been directly affected by violence were twice as likely to regularly attend a youth club than those who had not (see below graphics).
The largest global survey on young people's experiences of violence has brought into sharp focus the critical role of youth clubs and youth workers.
The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) published its landmark report, Who has access to positive activities, youth clubs and trusted adults? at the end of last year.
“This report puts to bed the idea that youth clubs are just places to hang about and play pool,” says Caleb Jackson, the YEF's head of change for the youth sector.
“It shows that youth clubs are at the precipice of where vulnerable young people gather.”
There has already been substantive research into the value and effectiveness of youth clubs. For example, Carmen Villa authored a report for the Institute for Fiscal Studies last year that linked London youth club closures to increased crime and poorer educational outcomes.
However, what sets the YEF report apart from other work is its scale.
Link to violence
The YEF surveyed 10,000 children aged between 13 and 17 in England and Wales and found that those who had been directly affected by violence were twice as likely to regularly attend a youth club than those who had not (see below graphics).
YOUNG PEOPLE'S EXPERIENCES OF YOUTH CLUBS AND YOUTH VIOLENCE IN ENGLAND AND WALES. Source: Who has access to positive activities, youth clubs and trusted adults? YEF, Dec 2024
Of those attending clubs, 65% had perpetrated violence and 60% had been the victims of violence. This compared with 31% who hadn't been victims or perpetrators of violence.
“We can say it out loud now,” Jackson says. “We have complicated children in our youth clubs, and we need to be able to respond to them.
“Children come to youth clubs because they are likely to trust the adults there. It's safe, well lit and there are positive activities to get involved in. It's structured, has an open-door policy and is often free to access.
“In places where children refuse to travel through different areas, often for their own safety, it's not an unusual thing that they want to stay within their own locality.”
Jackson hopes the report will strengthen the hand of youth clubs seeking more funding and reverse the long-term decline in club numbers – between 2010 to 2023, 1,243 council-run youth centres in England and Wales closed according to Unison research.
“Youth club leaders won't be surprised by this report,” he says. “But for funders and commissioners, it could be quite a wake-up call.”
Jackson also hopes that the report will lead to further research.
School-based clubs
The survey found that youth clubs based in schools were the most commonly used – 35% had access and 17% attended. In addition, 88% said they viewed youth clubs in schools as either “very” or “fairly” safe.
In comparison, 37% had access to clubs in community centres, but only 12% attended – 63% thought youth clubs in youth or community centres were safe.
“The Department for Education has worked to strengthen opportunities to have youth clubs and youth workers in schools because that's where young people gather, and it becomes a holistic offer,” Jackson says.
“We haven't tested that, and the report doesn't strongly lean into that sort of intervention in that setting. But we would welcome more large-scale funding to look into it.”
Abbee McLatchie, director of youth work at the National Youth Agency (NYA), says the report, which found 18% of children don't have access to a trusted adult outside their family, emphasised the importance of youth workers.
“It highlights that we need more boots on the ground so that all young people have access to trusted adults and positive relationships that enable early intervention,” she says.
For McLatchie, it's not so much about places but people.
“Vulnerable young people are accessing youth work in diverse places,” she says.
“It might be a youth club in a school or boxing club, or a youth worker doing a session in the park under the local climbing frame once a week. The key thing is positive activities and relationships.”
McLatchie says more youth clubs were needed to replace the facilities lost during austerity. However, the rollout had to respond to the specific needs of communities.
“One of the challenges is that it doesn't look the same everywhere,” she says. “Young people in coastal regions might have a very different set of risks and experiences than someone in inner city Birmingham.”
Ensuring the sector has a well-trained and experienced youth work workforce is also vital.
Youth work careers
The NYA is currently consulting on a proposed revised qualification framework to encourage and support career development in youth work – a detailed consultation starts in February.
“We want to ensure there's a strong emphasis on specialist content and CPD (continuing professional development) that reflects contemporary issues in young people's lives. It needs to be accessible, affordable and relevant,” says McLatchie.
“We're also keen to consider how best to support career transitioners.”
The NYA is considering ways to make it quicker and easier for people from professions such as teaching and social work to become youth workers by better recognising their previous learning and experience.
Training is also a key issue for Andy Hamill, national director of the National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs (NABGC), which supports county organisations and local clubs in providing safe places where young people can enjoy football, table tennis, cross-country running, and canoeing.
“Many of our volunteers work during the day and open their clubs at night, leaving little time and resources to do training,” he says.
“Training needs to be flexible and cover issues such as safeguarding, building management and leadership.”
The report found that sport was particularly effective in “reducing aggression and improving mental health”.
In total, 37% of children who attend youth clubs who have perpetrated violence do team sports, and 30% do individual sports. Of those who had experienced violence, 36% participated in team sports and 30% in individual sports.
There is also a noticeable gender gap: 54% of boys participate in team sports compared with 30% of girls. The dropout rate accelerates among girls as they get older – only 17% of 17-year-old girls do team sports compared with 48% of boys at the same age.
Further research
The YEF is currently funding more research into the role of different activities – such as team sports, arts and adventure activities – in violence prevention.
But from the NABGC's perspective, “the more options on offer to young people the better”.
“Youth clubs get teenagers into a positive space with positive adult role models rather than people who would seek to exploit them,” says Hamill.
“It's what we and our members do day in, day out, but it depends on funding.
“The government's £185mn National Youth Strategy has the potential to be a green shoot. I've not seen anything regarding the strategy with any meat on the bones since its announcement in November. But there's a great opportunity to look at the evidence that has been presented.”
- NYA consultation, p13
FURTHER READING
Who has access to positive activities, youth clubs and trusted adults? report, YEF, December 2024 How cuts to education affected teen crime and education, IFS, November 2024
