Sponsored: ‘Youthwork black holes’ widespread across Labour constituencies, research finds

SPONSORED

New analysis reveals that Labour constituencies are disproportionately affected by ‘youthwork black holes’: areas where young people face high levels of disadvantage but limited access to youth services.  

Of the one hundred constituencies with the highest concentrations of unmet need, ninety-one are held by Labour MPs. This includes Barnsley South, held by the Minister for Youth, Stephanie Peacock, as well as Houghton and Sunderland South, represented by Education Secretary, Bridget Philipson.

The findings come weeks after the government published its £500m Youth Strategy, ‘Youth Matters’, which includes significant funding to build, refurbish and equip youth centres across England.  

Produced by charity funder Social Investment Business (SIB), the research creates the first national mapping of youth provision and need, exposing widespread ‘youthwork black holes’ across England: neighbourhoods where young people have little or no access to youth services, despite high levels of deprivation and antisocial behaviour.  

Developing a new ‘Unmet Need Index’, the analysis finds that 48% of local authorities in England contain at least one neighbourhood in the highest decile (top 10%) for unmet youth need, with two thirds having neighbourhoods in the highest two deciles.  

Nick Temple OBE, Chief Executive at Social Investment Business, said: “Today’s research shows there are still large gaps in provision – but gaps that can be closed through successful delivery of the funding announced through the new National Youth Strategy.

“Through our delivery of the government’s Youth Investment Fund, we’ve seen how targeted funding can transform access to safe, high-quality spaces for young people.”

Since 2022, charity funder SIB has worked with successive governments to deliver both the £300m Youth Investment Fund and the £30m for phase one of Labour’s Better Youth Spaces programme. Through this work there are now over 270 new or refurbished youth centres across England, which SIB estimates are now within walking distance of more than one in seven young people.

The Lighthouse Project in the Labour-held constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend is one of those 270 new or improved youth facilities. Until its launch in the summer of 2025, there were no purpose-built facilities for young people in the local area. Following a £4.4m grant through the Youth Investment Fund, a new world class venue was opened in the heart of the community providing a flexible, multi-purpose youth and community space, and as a result the number of young people attending the open access youth club sessions has far exceeded everyone’s expectation.

In response to the research, Bethia McNeil, Director of Quality and Impact at the YMCA, said: “This research from Social Investment Business is very welcome, as we wait for more detail on how the investment set out in the new youth strategy will benefit young people and communities. YMCA England & Wales’ research has charted the 73% decline in funding for youth services over the last 15 years, and this new analysis significantly advances our understanding of where services are reaching the young people who need them the most – and more importantly, where they are not.” 

Youthwork is delivered by a diverse range of organisations, and there is no consistent national dataset for youth provision and need, which researchers have warned makes it hard to identify the gaps where additional funding should be targeted. Today’s new mapping aims to demonstrate how a data-led approach could ensure the government’s new strategy has the biggest impact for young people across England.

“This data-driven insight is vital and should sharpen Government’s plans for targeted investment,” added McNeil, “Critically, this targeted investment in facilities needs to be matched with the funding to sustainably staff these spaces with skilled youth workers.”  

The full dataset and interactive maps are being published openly to support policymakers, funders and local authorities to make more targeted, place-based decisions as the Youth Strategy is implemented. 

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