Vital Funding Overdue as Youth Services Expenditure Falls Again

@UKLabour’s Cat Smith responds to latest @YMCA Out of Service report on youth services funding 

Cat Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Young People, responding to the latest report from the YMCA Out of Service: Vital Funding Overdue as Youth Services Expenditure Falls Again, said:

“Youth services are a vital lifeline for young people, particularly those living in areas of deprivation. This report reveals the scale of chronic underfunding by the Tories of communities in the North of England.

“The Government pledged £500m of funding for youth services over a year ago, yet not a penny has been spent. The need for this support for young people has never been more urgent.”

Real-term Local Authority expenditure on youth services has fallen 73% since 2010/11 with overall cumulative cuts across England totalling almost £1bn in the past decade

Over the past 10 years, certain regions have had expenditure tightened more than others: in East of England this fell in real-terms by -61% and by -68% in the South West. Comparatively, expenditure has fallen in real-terms by -82% in the West Midlands, -78% in the North East and -76% in the South East since 2010-11.