Setting Youth Policy in the Right Direction
A YOUTHOOD Position Paper on National Stewardship, Youth Development and Cross-Government Policy
Young people’s lives are shaped by decisions across education, housing, health, employment, welfare, transport, justice, digital regulation and local government.
Yet responsibility for understanding and coordinating these effects remains fragmented across departments.
YOUTHOOD’s position is that the United Kingdom does not simply need more youth-related policy. It needs stronger national stewardship of every policy that affects young people.
Our position paper calls on government to take five steps:
establish an Office for Youth Development;
introduce Youth Development and Child Rights Impact Assessments;
create a Cross-Government Youth Development Duty;
establish a National Standard for Youth Influence in Policymaking;
build on Youth Matters: State of the Nation through regular reporting and public accountability.
Together, these proposals would strengthen coordination across government, embed children’s rights and developmental scrutiny within policymaking, improve the quality of youth influence and preserve responsibility through political change.
The paper is intended to strengthen, rather than replace, the National Youth Strategy, the Children’s Commissioner and existing youth participation structures.
Youth development should be treated not as a narrow policy area, but as a shared national responsibility across government and society.
Read the full position paper
Explore YOUTHOOD’s full case for stronger national coordination, scrutiny, youth influence and accountability across the policies shaping young people’s lives.
