Youth work in Wales - delivering for young people: Welsh language impact assessment

Cymraeg 2050 is our national strategy for increasing the number of Welsh speakers to a million by 2050. 

The Welsh Government is fully committed to the new strategy, with the target of a million speakers included in its Programme for Government. A thriving Welsh language is also included in one of the 7 well-being goals in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

We also have a statutory obligation to fully consider the effects of our work on the Welsh Language. This means that any Welsh Government policy should consider how our policies affect the language and those who speak it. 

The Cymraeg 2050 strategy has three interrelated themes:

Theme 1: Increasing the number of Welsh speakers

• Language transmission in the family.
• The early years.
• Statutory education.
• Post-compulsory education.
• The education workforce, resources and qualifications.

Theme 2: Increasing the use of Welsh

• The workplace.
• Services.
• Social use of Welsh.

Theme 3: Creating favourable conditions - infrastructure and context

• Community and economy.
• Culture and media.
• Wales and the wider world.
• Digital technology.
• Linguistic infrastructure.
• Language planning.
• Evaluation and research.

The headings under each theme outline the scope of activities that can affect the language.

As a general rule, if your policy has the potential to impact on people, it will impact in some way on Welsh speakers and therefore on the Welsh language.

Yes. Youth work has an important role to play in particular in helping support young people who can speak Welsh to use the language, with youth work provision offering opportunities for many young people to build their language confidence in a wide variety of settings. The statutory framework for youth work sets out our expectations in terms of how this can help support one of Cymraeg 2050’s main objectives – ensuring that fewer young people lose their Welsh skills when moving onwards from statutory education, and that more of them reach their mid-twenties with a command of the language – with a specific section in the statutory guidance to explain more about our expectations in this respect.

Running alongside the aim within Cymraeg 2050’s work programme for 2021 to 2026 to develop programmes to supporting the use of Welsh by children and young people, youth work provides invaluable opportunities and experiences for young people, whatever their Welsh language ability or background, to use their Welsh with their peers in the community and online, building young people’s confidence in using more of their Welsh. 

Furthermore, the guidance will direct Local Authorities to consider their Welsh language promotion strategies, aiming to ensure that youth work services in local areas are consistent with these strategies.

How will the proposal affect the sustainability of Welsh speaking communities (both positive and (or) adverse effects)

As acknowledged in the framework, youth work has an important role to play in providing opportunities for young people to use their Welsh language skills with peers, and build their confidence to use Welsh within their own communities. For the first time in a Welsh legislative context, the framework introduces a requirement for local authorities to secure the delivery of youth work. Local authorities will also be required to evidence how it has met the national standards for youth work – which includes an aim to introduce, protect and strengthen activities delivered in Welsh, English and other community languages where relevant. These requirements aim to elevate youth work and ensure consistency in how youth work is designed and delivered, and are in turn deemed to help support the sustainability of Welsh speaking communities by protecting and expanding opportunities for young people to use Welsh.

An expectation that youth work provision aims to introduce, protect and strengthen activities delivered in both Welsh and English is one of the national standards set out in the framework. Local authorities should shape their youth work offer around the community’s linguistic profile and young people’s needs, while also creating new opportunities that encourage wider engagement with Welsh‑medium and bilingual youth work. Frequent, efficient and meaningful engagement should take place with young people, including Welsh‑speaking young people, with clear arrangements to provide regular feedback and opportunities for them to comment on progress. It is envisaged that engagement with schools could and an understanding of the needs of school learners should form part of the wider planning process, while recognising the distinct role of youth work and should draw on evidence from local authority Welsh in Education Strategic Plans to ensure alignment. Compliance with these national standards will form part of the evaluation criteria for the youth work strategic plans which are at the centre of the framework. Over and above this, plans will be evaluated to consider the extent to which the youth work offer meet the needs of young people, how inequalities within provision will be addressed, action to be taken during the period of the plan to address future demands on youth work provision, the evidence base used to inform the plan’s objectives and how the local authority has worked with partners and voluntary organisations to plan and deliver provision. We anticipate that the Welsh language needs of young people would form an important part of local authorities’ consideration in each of these areas, and evidence presented on this will be considered as part of the evaluation of youth work strategic plans. 

Local authorities will be required to provide annual report on progress against the objectives set out in their youth work strategic plan. to be prepared every five years and reported upon annually, providing a method to hold local authorities accountable for how they meet this standard (and the other standards set out in the framework).

The accountability arrangements that form part of the framework will provide greater transparency regarding the priorities for youth work for each local authority, and local authorities will work with voluntary organisations to respond to those priorities over the five-year period of a youth work strategic plan. As well as helping ensure stakeholders, including young people, understand how this youth work provision will develop over the period of a youth work strategic plan, the planning and accountability requirements that form part of the framework will help ensure a clear understanding of activities undertaken in to support the achievement of youth work strategic plans work in parallel with other developments in other sectors, including statutory education, sports, and culture, to support the sustainability of Welsh speaking communities more generally.

How will the proposal affect Welsh medium education and Welsh learners of all ages, including adults (both positive and (or) adverse effects)

The target age for youth work as set out in this framework is those young people aged 11 to 25. Many of those young people who are of school age will be in Welsh-medium education (PLASC data published in July 2025 showed that 16.6% of all secondary school pupils were in Welsh-medium education). All other secondary school learners will learn Welsh. Youth work has a valuable role to play in complementing young peoples’ Welsh language journey, regardless of the amount of Welsh they are taught in school. This framework provides a consistent planning and accountability framework for youth work, and local authorities will be required to consider a range of evidence sources to inform the setting of priorities, progress against which they will be required to report annually. The plans will be expected to show how they contribute to the seven wellbeing goals for Wales – including our ambition for a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Evidence from Welsh in Education Strategic Plans are one of the sources of evidence that the framework note should be used in setting objectives for the youth work strategic plans. Other sources of evidence may include direct testimony from young people as well as data on a range of fields, including Welsh language, to help ensure action taken addresses the needs of the community of young people across the local authority area.

Ensuring youth work provides a range of opportunities for young people currently still in school to use and enjoy Welsh is considered to provide a springboard to their longer-term use of the language when they have left school and move onwards to young adulthood. Evaluation criteria for the youth work strategic plans will include consideration of the needs of young people across the full target age range for youth work (11 to 25).

The framework notes that voluntary organisations in particular play a vital role in the delivery of a rich and diverse youth work offer. This is especially true for the delivery of provision through the medium of Welsh. Proactive steps have been taken to ensure that voluntary organisations have a meaningful role to play in the development of youth work strategic plans as well as their realisation.

How will the proposal affect services available in Welsh (both positive and (or) adverse effects) (for example, Health and social services, transport, housing, digital, youth, infrastructure, environment, local government)

The framework provides clear planning and accountability arrangements for youth work, and a duty for the first time in a Welsh legislative context for local authorities to deliver youth work. This will include clearer accountability on how the needs of young people are being considered as part of these wider planning and accountability arrangements. Local authorities will be required to put arrangements to consult with young people as well as offer them an opportunity to share their views on progress made against the objectives set in youth work strategic plans which will be sought annually as part of ongoing monitoring of the five-year plan. 

Whilst the framework provides clear planning and accountability arrangements for youth work, and a duty for the first time in a Welsh legislative context for local authorities to deliver youth work, a number of concerns were raised during the consultation on the draft framework. These included that the definition of youth work as set out in the draft framework was too heavily focused on qualified youth workers and youth support workers, and that the draft framework did not sufficiently recognise the contribution of the voluntary sector to the delivery of a rich and diverse youth work offer. Some responses to the consultation noted the approach set out in the draft framework would have a particularly detrimental impact on Welsh-medium settings. Mitigations taken to address these concerns included amending the definition which forms part of the final framework, which recognises the role qualified youth workers and youth support workers play in providing leadership to others involved in the delivery of youth work, as well as a strong emphasis on the importance of collaboration between local authorities and voluntary organisations – who are often uniquely positioned to respond to the specific needs of young people, including delivering youth work provision through the medium of Welsh. A review point has also been incorporated into the final framework, where the impact of the framework - including in areas where concerns on the draft framework were raised – can be considered and how further steps can be taken to ensure the policy aim to strengthen the legislative basis for youth work and achieve a sustainable delivery model for youth work in Wales can be achieved.

Youth work is delivered by a wide range of organisations across the voluntary and maintained sector. This breadth of organisations involved in the delivery of youth work also means that funding to support provision is drawn from a wide range of sources, as evidenced by the findings of a review of funding for youth work in Wales.

How will you ensure that people know about services that are available in Welsh and are able to access and use them as easily as they can in English? What evidence or data have you used to inform your assessment, including evidence from Welsh speakers or Welsh language interest groups

What other evidence would help you to conduct a better assessment

Whilst we do hold some information on the level of youth work provision currently available through the medium of Welsh, this does not cover all provision and has limitations in terms of its scope and currency. Better evidence on levels of Welsh-medium youth work provision would help build a clearer baseline of current provision as well as how this changes over time. 

Some information is available on the current profile of the workforce and their ability to work through the medium of Welsh. These include annual data returns by local authorities, a cross-sector workforce skills and training audit (undertaken in 2024), and data published by the Education Workforce Council. These provide helpful evidence, but each have their own limitations and do not provide a complete picture of Welsh language skills across the youth work workforce or practitioners confidence to use Welsh in their work. Better evidence on this, including a more consistent measure of their skills, an improved analysis of Welsh language skills amongst those working on behalf of voluntary organisations, and regular updates to this data, would help monitor Welsh language capacity on an ongoing basis and take action to address gaps.

Overall, success will be measured by ensuring all local authorities deliver youth work, that the youth work provision complies with the national standards for youth work, and that there is better accountability in the context of the planning reporting of youth work in the context of this framework. 

More specifically in the context of the Welsh language and Welsh-medium provision, success will be measured by a strengthened youth work offer available through the medium of Welsh. That will be measured by evaluating how objectives within the youth work strategic plans that each local authority will be required to develop and report upon as part of this framework contributes to strengthening that Welsh-medium youth work offer.