Lynne Neagle MS, Cabinet Secretary for Education
Following my statement in December 2025, I am pleased to announce the publication of the Youth Support Services (Provision of Youth Work) (Wales) Directions 2026 and the ‘Youth work in Wales: delivering for young people’ statutory guidance, which together make up the new statutory framework for youth work. This delivers on our Programme for Government commitment to legislate for a new framework for youth services.
The finalisation of this framework is the culmination of extensive work over a number of years. This includes the Children, Young People and Education’s Committee’s inquiry into youth work which I chaired, onwards to the work of the Interim Youth Work Board and, more recently, the Youth Work Strategy Implementation Board’s focus on developing and taking forward a range of recommendations aimed at achieving a sustainable delivery model for youth work in Wales.
The framework establishes clear planning and accountability arrangements, as well as setting out requirements for local authorities to assess and prioritise young people’s needs and set objectives to support and develop youth work. Collaboration – between organisations designing and delivering youth work, as well as young people themselves - is central to the framework.
Young people have a critical role to play in the realisation of this framework. The framework makes clear that their views must shape the youth work strategic plans that each local authority, working with its partners, will be required to develop. The views of young people must also be sought at regular intervals during the implementation of those plans, helping to ensure young people understand how their views have informed decision-making and as a means of holding decisions makers to account.
Reaching this important milestone has not been without its challenges, given the diversity of stakeholders involved in delivering youth work services across Wales. It has been vital to take time to work in partnership with representatives across the youth work sector to listen to concerns and explore ways to ensure this framework delivers on our aim to strengthen the legislative basis for youth work. This included ensuring the vital and valued contribution of the voluntary sector and local authorities is captured within this framework. A review point has been incorporated into the framework to consider, by autumn 2028, if our intended objectives have been met, and what further action may need to be taken to achieve these aims.
This framework, alongside our work to develop a national body for youth work, will help champion youth work, ensuring that it is valued and understood and that it continues to respond to young people’s ever-evolving needs.
I want to thank everyone who has engaged so positively to ensure we reach this milestone, for their commitment, as well as recognise the invaluable contribution made by youth work in all corners of Wales to help ensure our young people fulfil their potential.