Analysis by YMCA England & Wales found that since 2010/11, spending on youth services in England has reduced by £959m, with local authority spending dropping from £1,357m in 2010/11 to £398m in 2018/19 – equivalent to a 71 per cent cut.
A regional breakdown found that young people in the West Midlands and the North East have experienced the worst cuts, with local authorities in the West Midlands reducing spending on youth services by 80 per cent since 2010/11, while in the North East cuts over the same period amounted to 76 per cent.
Conversely, young people living in the east of England and inner London have fared the best, with respective reductions in spending of 62 per cent and 63 per cent
The report found that the cuts to youth services are not in keeping with spending for children and young people's services as a whole – which has increased by seven per cent over the same time period – from £10.6bn in 2010/11 to £11.3bn in 2018/19.
"This demonstrates that the scale of the cuts to youth services are not in keeping with wider trends on spending on children and young people more generally, which has increased," the report states.
"Instead, local authorities are choosing, or are being required, to divert spending on this age group away from universal or targeted youth services.
"Analysing local authority expenditure over the period 2010/11 to 2018/19 demonstrates that spending in this area in England has primarily been diverted toward addressing the urgent needs of young people in crisis through services such as the safeguarding of children.”
As a result of the cuts, last year (2018/19) youth services in England accounted for just four per cent of the local spend on children and young people’s services, compared with 13 per cent in 2010/11.
"These figures demonstrate that the long-term benefits of youth services are being overlooked as local authorities are being forced to meet more immediate financial and statutory pressures, even within the services provided for children and young people," the report states.
"However, as the increasing incidences of knife crime, mental health difficulties and social isolation among young people illustrate, these cuts are not without their consequences.
"Youth services have traditionally provided a lifeline for many young people, but the cuts are resulting in a situation in which individuals are increasingly being left without local spaces where they can engage in positive activities that support their development, as youth services are forced to close their doors.
"Young people must become a priority once more and it is imperative that the government acts to prevent these missed opportunities for young people to get support."
Responding to the report, James Cathcart, director of Young Voices Heard, said: “Surely it’s time for such evidence to be shared at a new formal joint select committee of education, DCMS and DCLG, in this parliament, holding government and other stakeholders to account, at the same time giving a platform to those who do value youth work and young people.”
Maddie Dinwoodie, deputy chief executive at UK Youth said: “Youth services have transformational and lasting effects on young people’s wellbeing, social and employability skills. This is why UK Youth want to ensure that every young person is walking distance from a safe space in their community, where they can experience positive activities, develop skills and build relationships with trusted adults.
“The recently announced Youth Investment Fund and the Youth Accelerator Fund are a very welcome step towards this investment and we will support the Government on this. However, we want to see funding reaching the frontline ring-fenced at pre-2010 levels, to ensure young people can unleash their full potential.”
The Local Government Association (LGA) has previously called for money currently given to the government's flagship National Citizen Service youth social action initiative to be devolved to councils to offset cuts.
Judith Blake, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “While the government’s recent promise of £500m investment in youth services is a step in the right direction, this report supports our call for an ambitious national strategy to support young people and the need for more sustainable, long-term investment.
“Services such as youth centres and youth work make a real difference to young people’s lives and councils are doing all they can to protect them.
“Rising demand and fewer resources has made it increasingly difficult for councils to prioritise these preventative services, with funding being diverted to protect children who are at immediate risk of harm.
“It is important that services supporting young people, children and families are fully funded and we want to work with government to ensure this is recognised in the upcoming budget.”
YMCA's report calls on the government to reinstate and ringfence youth services funding to 2010/11 real-terms levels, provide universal youth services for all young people and targeted support for those who need it, and create a national youth services strategy.
The government is reviewing the effectiveness of statutory guidance for council youth services, conducting an eight-week consultation with the sector that closed on 1 December 2019.
In September, Chancellor Sajid Javid announced the creation of a £500m Youth Investment Fund, which will run for five years from April, to build new youth centres, refurbish exciting youth facilitates and provide mobile facilities for harder to reach areas.
