Welcome to #YouthVoice News and Opportunities – a regular roundup from the world of youthvoice, participation, and influence. This week: Editorial Feature “From BYC to Youth Council UK – Membership Open| UKYP inquiry into PSHE | UKYP Govt evaluation | Votesat16 Watch | Opportunities – Training and Events | Opportunities – YouthVoice | YouthVoice News is produced by Young Voices Heard CIC as a non-profit venture, and edited by a volunteer.
YOUTHVOICE HEARD – NEWS
⚡From BYC to Youth Council UK – membership open
The National Youth Agency’s “Youth Council Implementation Team” is inviting organisations to apply for membership of the new Youth Council UK. They can be a: national or local youth organisation; youth wings of political parties; any committee, network or body where young people have decision-making or policy-making power; youth participation bodies aligned with government at any level; for example, a youth council, youth parliament or youth forum; youth support bodies or corporates; for example, a youth work unit, an organisation with an interest in youth or youth work, or a ‘for youth’ organisation – but do not have a group of young people setting your policies. They will be following this up with more info on how these founder members can nominate ‘young’ representatives/candidates to its first ‘Board’.
Benefits will include: Opportunities to join national forums, working groups, and for your young people to participate in national campaigns; Preferential rates for leadership, governance and safeguarding training; Early access to exclusive resources, and research and policy briefings; Full voting rights, participation in policy consultations, and eligibility for leadership roles; Use of the YCUK Founder Member Mark and profile-raising opportunities.
Organisations can register for £50, but will need to pay between £250 – £2000 a year from April, depending on the turnover of the organisation. Full Details here: New Youth Council UK opens membership – National Youth Agency, and includes Q&A and an email for further information. Elections to a Management Exec/Board are scheduled for January.
Comment: It looks like many of the benefits being promoted in the memberhip drive are (understandably) aimed at organisations, emphasising the benefits to them as ’empowers of #youthvoice’, and providing opportunities to their young people. However as the main purpose of the youth council is to primarliy serve young people by amplifying their youth voice on issues they care about so they are acted upon, I look forward to hearing what the benefits will be to young people, such as how they will shape their youth-led agenda, of how they can they can participate in policy decision-making, how to choose and deliver campaigns, and learn the skills to. I’m sure organisations considering membership will now be consult their young leaders and reps and give them a say in deciding whether to join, as it will be young people (11-25) who will be delegates to Council Meetings and will elect the charity’s leadership. They will shape the policies, campaigns and services it provides. These services that will not doubt be prioritised to enhance their #youthvoice skills, as well as the complementary skills and experience of those supporting them. One of the conclusions of these Govt commissioned evaluation into the UK Youth Parliament 23-25 published this week (see item below), was the lack of awareness of its work, opportunities and benefits (only 26% of 11-18 yr-olds were aware). Perhaps a message from those young people in the NYA/Implementation advisory group to young people out there out there, to inform their say in this process going forward, and indeed for any young people not already a member of a youth org, to join one, or to set up their own youth-led orgnisations that can join to0.
These are exciting first steps! It’s great to read the new body will be committed to its predecessors’ heritage, values, and mission and I would love to see these summarised in a charter for members to sign up to – like the #iwillmovement charter. We are also reassured that young people (expected to still be 11-25) will still be in the lead. NYA reaffirms its intention that the new body will become an independent charity – still something of a challenge starting out, especially as new members we dont know its starting budget until the subcriptions are totted up, and what other cash and inkind offers have been secured by and from NYA, and whether the Government will respond to Youth Council Consultation Report’s call for Govt core-funding. I’m hoping the Youth Strategy will clarify this last point, and the Govt’s role going forward, as it will need to give YCUK official recognition and a seat at the top table. It already funds the UK Youth Parliament as “DCMS’s key mechanism for engaging with young people and ensuring their voices are heard in policy and decision making” (Eval Report 23-25 – see item below) since BYC closed in Mar 2024.
I recently published two articles highlighting what I believe will be some of the challenges facing the new initiatives [From a British Youth Council to a Youth Voice Council” CLICK “Part 1 The Journey So Far”, and “Part 2 What the Future Holds “], and I’ll update this when more information about Governance is available. Now that we know what the membership offer is, the immediate challenge is to the youth and broader civil society sector to sign up, and they the ‘benefits’, as representing a good return and value, and their commitment to supporting young people to have a greater say in public life.” Ed/JC
Youth Select Committee (UKYP) call for evidence on PSHE
The Youth Select Committee is conducting a UK-wide inquiry into Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education in secondary schools. Calling all students, educators, PSHE experts and youth organisations from across the UK, have your say now and get in touch to submit evidence. Your written evidence will be heard in Parliament. Previous committees have subsequently called witnesses to give evidence in person, and produced a report with recommendations, to which the Government has produced a written response. Deadline: 5 pm, 13 November 2025 Submit to: youthselectcommittee@parliament.uk Full details: https://lnkd.in/enX4_6_t
- Is PSHE is taught consistently across schools and nations
- How are teachers supported in delivering sensitive topics
- What is the impact of knowledge gaps on adult outcomes
- How can political education be embedded to support democratic participation
- What recommendations would you make to address these issues?
- Read the full terms of reference. (pdf, 53KB)
[This is the second year of the UKYP YouthSelectCommittee model. The original was part of the British Youth Council Youth Voice programme when members were drawn from a wide range of sources, including youth councillors, young mayors, and BYC member organisations. You can read their previous reports on the YVH BYC /ResourcesArchive, or the Parliament YSC link above.
Govt publishes evaluation of UK Youth Parliament 23-25
When DCMS issued a two-year contract to the British Youth Council in 2023, it also commissioned an evaluation of the programme from IFF Research. During this time, BYC closed, and the contract was won by the National Youth Agency for a reduced version in 24/25. (It’s been extended until 25/26 )
The report and recommendations, published this week, makes for interesting reading although its sample size was relatively low and self-selecting – 54 (18%) in Year 1, and 91 (30%) in Year 2 out of circa 300 members. (not all of the 395 seats are taken up by local authorities across the UK).
“Engaging with other young people who were passionate about the issues that affect them emerged as a key highlight of the UK Youth Parliament for MYPs.”
“MYPs felt like their motivations for taking part in the UK Youth Parliament had been realised … to represent the views of young people [69%] and make a difference in their local community or the UK [65%]” (on reflection 75% believed it had an impact on their career prospects)
“MYPs thought their skills had improved in a wide range of areas during their time in the UK Youth Parliament.”
“Awareness of the UK Youth Parliament is low [26%] among young people [11-18], representing a barrier to participation and potentially impacting representation”.
“There is less evidence to confirm that young people are engaged at an early stage in the development of policy affecting them or that specific government proposals and policies are tested with them.”
“Awareness emerged as a barrier to engagement in the UK Youth Parliament”.
Comment: The report concludes that whilst the programmes main objective of engaging and listening to young people was largely met, particularly at a local level, the impact on policy and practice was less clear. The report also highlighted the lack of awareness of the programme and made a number of receommendations to improve it in the future. Although current funding is only assured until March 26, elections are taking place this autumn for next year. Is this is hope or expectation? We await the forthcoming Youth Strategy to indicate the direction of travel for youthvoice support, particularly in the context of the relaunch of the national Youth Council UK, which had formerely embedded the UKYP programme into its YouthVoice activities Ed/JC].
Profile and Platform – Dan Lawes
NEW feature. To supplement #YouthVoiceNews we are introducing a series of one off articles to profile and platform the work of individual young activists in the #YouthVoice movement. Kicking off with Dan Lawes (24) young CEO of @MyLifeMySay. Click here to read the full Article. Note – young people featured will either have been recommended by their peers or mentored by YVH. (or both!). If you’d like to nominate someone email info@youngvoicesheard.org.uk.
Votes at 16 Watch
⚡Youth Work and Votes at 16 Supporting Young People To Vote: Event/Webinar, by Carole PughDesigned with policymakers in mind webinar will explore:
✨ How youth work equips young people for political citizenship
✨ The role it could it play in engaging disadvantaged groups of young people
✨ The barriers and policies that limit youth work’s capacity to support political socialisation
✨ How can we maximise youth work’s capacity to ensure that 16-17 year-olds are adequately supported to vote Thu, Nov 20, 2025, 12:00 pm – 1:00 (your local time) Online/Event link:
⚡Will the Kids Be Alright – Implementing Votes at 16, Webinar | 29th Oct, 2-3 pm
29th Oct 2025 | 2.00-3.00. Uni of Leeds in person or Live Stream – details here This seminar will briefly provide an overview of the ‘road to Votes at 16’ before exploring contemporary political and policy debates, and how they inform UK Government’s current approach to lowering the voting age.
⚡OPPORTUNITIES (Supporters/Leaders)
(Scroll down for YouthVoice OPPORTUNITIES )
⚡13th November Laura Lundy Network Group event – Edinburgh “The Lundy Model Network (LinkedIn Group) are delighted to share our fourth in person gathering on 13th November 2025 at Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue 16 St Mary’s Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SU 🎉 The event is open to organisations with experience of applying the Lundy Model of Participation across teams/ divisions/ departments, and who are able to evidence impact and share resources and expertise. With an opening address from Prof. Laura Lundy and other speakers to be confirmed. Workshops for the day include: Language of participation – Active listening – Vehicles for participation and youth advisory boards – Youth Justice and professional bias. Spaces are limited, so we ask organisations to limit 2 delegates per organisation; there will be 100 delegates in total. There is a charge of £50 to cover the cost of venue, refreshments, and lunch, info on the booking page. Register here. https://lnkd.in/ermadHgy
⚡Centre for Youth Voice – Free Training & Events
November 4th & November 10th – Youth Voice Co-Assessment Tool: An opportunity to learn and help develop our new tool to assess youth voice ahead of the launch in the New Year.
November 13th – Lundy Model Network Gathering: The event is open to organisations with experience of applying the Lundy Model of Participation across teams/ divisions/ departments, and who are able to evidence impact and share resources.
November 25th – Community of Practice: Evaluating Peer Research with Young People: We’re bringing organisations together to look at how we collectively evaluate the impact of peer research.
December 3rd – Authoring Our Own Stories Roundtable: Peer researchers working with Yorks & Humber Youth Work Unit, Youth Focus North West, Youth Focus South West and Partnership for Young London, come together to share key findings and common links across their research projects on a range of themes related to civic identity.
December 9th – Peer Research Toolkit Launch: Join us for the launch of our new Peer Research Toolkit, for organisations looking to involve young people in research.
February 24th – Community of Practice: Evidencing Impact and Change of Youth Voice: We’re bringing organisations together to look at how we collectively evidence the impact of youth voice.
Multiple dates – Involving Young People in Services: Professor Kaz Stuart is delivering three training sessions around creating opportunities, supporting, and evaluating young people’s involvement in services.
- January 13th – Creating High Quality Opportunities for Young People to be Involved in Services
- February 10th – Supporting Young People to be Involved in Services
- March 10th – Evaluating Young People’s Involvement in Services
Multiple dates – Peer Research Toolkit Training: Based on the toolkit, we are delivering 90-minute training sessions on different aspects of the peer research approach, with presentations and Q&As.
- January 20th – Introduction to peer research
- January 27th – Setup, recruitment, budgets of peer research
- February 3rd – Co-designing research aims and questions
- February 17th – Participatory research methods
- March 3rd – Ethics, safeguarding, and data protection
- March 17th – Conducting fieldwork with peer researchers
- April 14th – Involving young people in analysis
- April 28th – Impact and embedding participation
⚡Coming Up
⚡UK Youth Parliament: Youth Select Committee on PSHE – see News item. Dates of witness evidence and report to be confirmed (between now and March 26)
⚡UK Youth Parliament debate in House of Commons – Thursday 6th November, (private event but usually broadcast on ParliamentTV). Unlike past events where MYPs have voted to prioritise different campaigns, the debate during the November 2025 Annual Sitting will be for MYPs to put forward their opinions on five different areas of debate – housing, health, employment, crime, and sustainability.”
If you have an event open to all, or of significant interest, let us know.
YOUTH VOICE OPPORTUNITIES
Our pick #youthvoice opportunities. For a broader range of early career/skill-building opportunities, go to our friends’ website, Youth Opportunities | Early Career and Skill Building roles in the UK
If you have a #youthvoice opportunity coming up, drop us a line info@youngvoicesheard.org.u
⚡Allergy UK has launched a Youth Engagement Group to ensure young people’s voices are heard. Young people aged 13-25 will connect with others, share experiences and ideas to shape Allergy UK’s work, and be involved in awareness campaigns and youth-led projects. Apply by Sunday 26th October. (reproduced from Youth Opportunities 🙂
⚡Youth Council UK – coming soon (Nov-Jan), opportunities to represent your youth organisations young people/youthvoice to the new national Youth Council as a elected representative on the Management Committee Board or as delegate members to the Youth Council itself, (age 16-25 to be confirmed) If you are a member of youth organisation – ask now about whether they are a members, and if you are not in an youth organisation you might like to think about joining one.
⚡Trustee positions – Interested in becoming a trustee? Only 3% of trustees are under the age of 30. Find under-30-friendly trustee boards through the Young Trustees Movement
RECOGNITION
⚡Diana Award – Aged 16-24, nominations open until 31 October.
Do you know a young social activist making a difference? Read our Nomination Guide to see eligibility criteria and learn how to nominate them for the 2026 DianaAwards and help shine a light on their incredible impact.📥 Head to our Nominations Centre to learn how:👉 https://loom.ly/Sqk3kTg
RESOURCES:
⚡Youth Voice Annual Census 2025: results The voices of over 8,000 young people (aged 11-30 / UK, surveyed between Mar-June, + 11 focus groups with 72 young people) tell us how they feel about where they live, work, and study. (Youth Employment UK has conducted this census every year since 2018. Click Here for full Report. Key Findings in YouthVoiceNews 17th Sept Crime and violence is now the number one national issue (43%), overtaking leadership (22%) and the economy (38%). Locally, crime (37%) and safety (25%) are also the most common worries.
⚡Youth Voice Poll /Research: Views of 16 and 17-year-olds/ More In Common Aug 25 on Votes at 16 | Voting Intentions | Mental Health and WellBeing | Legacy of Lockdown | School | Vaping Smoking Drinking | Screentime, Social Media | Online Safety |AI | Feminism and Gender Equality | Pride and Patriotism | Monarchy | Climate Change | Boats crossing the Channel |…. and how their priorities diverge on the Big Issues compared with the wider public.Read the full report click : Source and Full Research results and tables: Sunday Times 16-17s Sample 1,000 / GB (Eng/Scot/Wales) 15-20th August 2025
For other YVH recommended resources, go to the www.YoungVoiceHeard.org.uk main website / RESOURCES, or click #YouthVoiceNews – Recommending Reads and Resources for a summary of what’s on the website.