Leading Youth Sector organisations welcome a Youth Charter
Working together, UK Youth, The Scouts, Girlguiding, National Youth Agency, NCS Trust, Youth United Foundation, Step up to Serve, The Prince’s Trust, and the British Youth Council have been calling on the Government to develop a Youth Charter.
We welcome the news that the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Jeremy Wright MP, has announced a new Youth Charter with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport and Civil Society, Mims Davies MP, at the Prime Minister’s Serious Violence Summit.
Commenting on the Government’s announcement, Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, Chair of the British Youth Council, said: “We’re delighted to hear about the Government’s new commitment to young people. Young people across the country are facing a unique set of challenges and it’s imperative that the Government respond to evolving needs of young people.
“Young people should be a the forefront of the decision making which affects their lives not just because it’s the right thing to do but because they care about their futures.”
The time has come for a new, bolder approach to youth strategy that acknowledges the specific opportunities and challenges facing this generation of young people. We are working collaboratively to unlock investment in youth services to ensure all young people are given the opportunities they need to be able to thrive.
Our shared vision is for a nation where all young people have access to appropriate, high quality resources and services and where they are:
- Skilled and equipped to learn and earn
- Experiencing positive health and well-being
- Active members of their communities and society
- Safe and confident in their future
- Treated fairly and equally
Together we are committed to empowering young people to become transformative leaders in our communities to deliver positive change. To achieve this, we must put young people at the front and centre of joined up service design and delivery.
A new Youth Charter will facilitate an integrated, youth centric, approach across the myriad services many young people interact with in their day to day lives, ranging from formal and non-formal education and social services, to criminal justice, health care, housing and benefits.
As part of this offer, young people must have access to high quality and universally available non-formal education and development opportunities. These activities, including youth clubs, sports clubs, art and drama groups, social enterprises, after school clubs and uniformed youth groups, social action, the #iwill campaign, and the NCS programme, all contribute to the richness of a young persons’ social development journey and should be accessible, affordable, open to all, and nationally coordinated to ensure parity of access.
We also welcome the Governments desire to ensure youth workers have the skills they need to best support young people and their commitment to explore the renewal of vital youth work qualifications.
The British Youth Council are backing a new Youth Charter to put young people where they belong, at the top of the agenda. Through developing and delivering a cohesive approach to services for young people we can improve inequality and social mobility, generate positive outcomes that benefit wider society, and unlock cost savings in health, criminal justice, and social care.
Read the Department for Digital. Media, Culture and Sport statement
