The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report looked at offending rates and exam results among teenagers who live in an area where all their youth clubs within a 40 minute walk have closed.
It found that teenagers impacted by a lack of youth clubs in their area were 14% more likely to commit crimes and their exam results dipped by 4%.
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The average decline in GCSE performance was the equivalent of half a grade in one subject, with a more pronounced dip among children entitled to free school meals, who received the equivalent of a grade worse in one subject.
In areas where youth clubs had closed the offending rate among 10- to 17-year-olds increased from 14 to 16 per 1,000 young people.
The extent of youth club closures in recent years has been caused by funding cuts to councils from central government during the 2010s, details the IFS report.
But this austerity-led approach has proved counterproductive, the IFS warns.
For every £1 saved from closing a youth club, the wider costs to society through worsening attainment and greater risk of committing a crime is nearly £3.
“These results point to the important direct role of youth clubs in supporting teenagers outside of school hours,” said the IFS.
“The research finds, for example, that after a youth club closed, local teenagers reported spending less time doing homework and more time playing videogames and on social media.
“This is likely due to youth clubs providing a good place for studying. But the results also suggest that youth clubs provide wider development benefits – perhaps through mentoring from youth workers – that spill over into school performance and wider life.”
This week the government announced a £185mn National Youth Strategy. This will include £26mn new funding for youth clubs to buy new equipment and carry out renovations.
It will also include £100mn from the next tranche of dormant asset funding. Support for young people is one of the main areas for this funding steam, which redirects unused bank account funds, over the next four years.
The IFS report also details that in London three in 10 youth clubs shut their doors for good between 2010 and 2019.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan says the IFS’s findings show “the hugely negative impact that more than a decade of cuts by the previous Government has had on our young people”.
“We need to be supporting our next generation and helping those who need it the most, not taking opportunities away from them,” he added.
