Youth work funding review

In 2022 the Youth Work Strategy Implementation Board was established to build on the work of the Interim Youth Work Board. The Board published its final report 'Time to deliver for young people in Wales: Achieving a sustainable delivery model for youth work services in Wales'.

This review will address the recommendations in the report. 

The fourth of the Board’s 14 recommendations was that Welsh Government should undertake an independent review into funding and expenditure on youth work services across:

• Welsh Government
• local authorities
• voluntary organisations

The review should assess the effective delivery of outcomes and impact for young people. It should include:

• an evaluation (both qualitative and quantitative) of how current funding mechanisms impact youth work provision across Wales and how any variations affect accessibility and rights
• a cost benefit analysis to establish the impact and economic effectiveness of youth work funding

The funding review will be carried out in 3 phases. We will provide outcomes for each phase once available.

The aim of phase 1 was to provide a framework for the research to be undertaken within Wales. This included: 

• establishment of a steering group 
• a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) of available literature/empirical research on relevant current practice in relation to analysis of funding and models of measuring value for money in the UK, and Republic of Ireland and research carried out on behalf of the Welsh Government
• a feasibility study to establish what data is available and to what extent it can address the scope of the proposed research for phases 2 and 3

A feasibility study of a review of youth work funding in Wales was carried out on behalf of the Welsh Government by the University of Trinity Saint David. The purpose of this feasibility study was to undertake an initial scoping of the available data and to what extent it could inform the proposed research for phases 2 and 3 of the funding review as recommended by the IYWB. 

The aim of phase 2 was to review funding sources available for youth work in Wales within both the voluntary and maintained sectors and explore how the funding sources are allocated within the 22 local authority areas, specifically to:

• consider where funding comes from, how this is accessed, and what the money is spent on
• identify barriers and challenges to accessing funding particularly, but not limited to, the voluntary sector 
• establish how the funding for youth work is utilised across the voluntary and maintained sector and how variations in usage across local authority areas impacts youth work
• identify who is making the decisions on allocated funding 
• identify the extent to which young people have a say on funding decisions
• understand the accountability, governance, and leadership mechanisms and reporting processes for youth work
• explore commissioning/partnership arrangements between voluntary and maintained sectors and how this is planned, organised, and monitored
• create a framework for collecting data regarding the impact and benefits of youth work to enable the undertaking of a cost benefit analysis in phase 3

The Youth work funding review phase 2 report is published on the website of the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. 

An executive summary and an easy read version are also available.

Views expressed in the reports are those of the researchers and not necessarily those of Welsh Government.

Phase 3 will provide evidence of the impact and economic effectiveness of funding in the maintained and voluntary youth work sectors through a cost-benefit analysis; highlighting evidence of good practice.