Youth work: April 2025 to March 2026

Youth work provides and facilitates an environment within which young people can relax, have fun, and feel secure, supported and valued. It is intended that through non-formal and informal educational opportunities and experiences youth workers challenge young people to enhance their life chances.

Young people aged 11 to 25 can be registered members of the youth work sector and have the opportunity to gain national accreditations such as the Duke of Edinburgh award.

• There were 77,447 registered members of the statutory youth work sector in 2025 to 2026, a 4% increase from 74,188 in 2024. 
• Membership remains 6% lower than pre-pandemic levels (82,766 in 2018 to 2019). 
• At March 2026, there were 734 full-time equivalent youth work staff in local authorities, down from 747 in March 2025 (this was still higher than in the 4 years before the pandemic).
• The most common type of project in 2025 to 2026 was health and wellbeing (2,349), followed by one-to-one projects (2,214).
• 43% of projects were delivered entirely or mainly in Welsh in 2025 to 2026, up from 38% in 2024 to 2025 (this continues the 4 year upward trend).
• The total income for youth work provision in 2025 to 2026 was £48 million, a 3% increase from 2024 to 2025.
• The core budget fell by 1% while additional income increased by 5% (compared with 2024 to 2025).
• The total expenditure for youth work provision in 2025 to 2026 was £46.3 million, up from £46.0 million in 2024 to 2025.
• Income and expenditure were the highest since data collection began in 2010 to 2011.

Youth work is delivered through local authorities and through the voluntary sector. This release relates to information collated by the statutory youth work sector.

The data in this report is collected by the Welsh Government from local authorities in an aggregated annual return. 

This release is accompanied by detailed tables on StatsWales, a free to use service that allows visitors to view, manipulate, create and download data.

For further information on quality please see the accompanying quality report.

School Statistics
Email: school.stats@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099