The investigation by the National Youth Agency (NYA) also showed only a third (35 per cent) of youth services would be able to operate normally for between six months and a year based on their current level of reserves.
The latest findings from the National Youth Sector Census, the first of its kind to carry out an in depth evaluation of the health of the sector, highlight weaknesses in operational resilience among most organisations delivering youth services.
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Analysis: Youth work cash crisis prompts call to action
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Analysis: Report reveals rural youth work cuts and how to boost provision
Of community groups, charities and local authorities providing youth services, one in five said they could stretch their reserves for more than 12 months in order to continue operating as normal.
But one in 10 organisations that took part in the census earlier this year said they did not know how long their current level of reserves would allow them to continue operating as normal.
The first report of the census, published to coincide with the start of Youth Work Week (1-7 November) attempts to bridge gaps in data for youth services at a national level and across statutory and non-statutory provision.
The NYA says its census has collected the largest dataset on youth provision from more than 25,000 organisations delivering youth services in England.
These include local authority youth services, national uniformed organisations such as those affiliated to Scouts and Girlguding, voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations and provision delivered through faith groups.
However, it says the census has revealed a “large disparity” in the amount and type of provision available to young people that was dependent on where they live.
For those young people living in more affluent areas, levels of youth service provision were found to be twice as high than for those in more deprived areas, the NYA said.
Similarly, there was likely to be twice as many purpose built, or dedicated towards, buildings for young people in areas of greater affluence, it added.
Units of national uniformed organisations, particularly those affiliated to Scouts and Girlguiding, made up around 90 per cent of all provision that was able to be identified in these areas, the report states.
Whereas, VCS organisations that were not affiliated to national or uniformed organisations, were more concentrated in the most deprived postcodes, it concludes.
“We do not yet have enough complete data to understand if the trend is replicated amongst youth provision delivered directly by a local authority,” the report adds.
For VCS organisations operating in areas of high deprivation, they were found to “disproportionately struggle” to meet demand in the short to medium term despite having higher budgets and staffing levels.
This meant one in four of these organisations had a waiting list of at least one month for at least one of their services, the report shows.
Leigh Middleton, NYA chief executive, said the census findings reflected the need for urgent action to ensure all young people could access high quality youth provision.
“Young people must be a priority and it is imperative that the government acts to ensure all young people, regardless of where they live, are able to access much needed support from a qualified youth worker and are not left to fall between the cracks,” he said.
The publication of the report follows news of a “significant reduction” in funding for the National Citizen Service (NCS) after last week’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
A breakdown of the funding announced by the Chancellor revealed that £173m will be allocated to the NCS over three years, a much lower grant compared with previous spending reviews.
It comes as part of a £560m overall boost to youth services which is set to include the creation of 300 youth centres.
