Welcome to #YouthVoice News and Opportunities – a regular roundup from the world of youthvoice, participation, and influence. This BITESIZE edition has shorter headlines with links for further detail, PLUS regular features like – recommended, opportunities and resources. Subscribe for free here , and access back issues. This week:
- ⭐Erasmus+ YouthVoice funding opportunities
- ⭐Spotlight on the Youth Strategy’s ‘YouthVoice’ Reports
- ⭐ScoutsCymru ‘from participation to youthled’ – good practice / recommendations
- ⭐Wolverhampton Council ‘Youth Voice Question Time’ of councillors & MPs!
- ⭐Children’s Commissioner (Eng) launches recruitment for 16/17 year old ambassadors
- ⭐Youth Parliament’s ‘Select Committee’ on PSHE – NEW Parlt TV and Witness reaction
- ⭐Youth Council UK membership deadline 31st December
- ⭐Votes@16Watch – 53,000 poll full results report by Votes for Schools
- 👀LinkedIn: Recommended Reads – Jade Barnet, Lucy Read, Dan Lawes
- 👀Opportunities for young people
- 👀Opportunities for supporters
- 👀Centre4YouthVoice – NEW free peer research resource & Dec Newsletter
- 🎁Resources
#YouthVoiceNews is produced by Young Voices Heard CIC as a non-profit venture, and edited by a volunteer.
NEWS
Maurizio Cuttin (24), UK Young Ambassador to Europe elected by the British Youth Council and campaigner (succcesfully!) for the restoration of UK participation in the programme said: “This deal is a victory for young people. Since Brexit, a wave of young people and youth organisations have been deprived of vital intercultural learning opportunities. It restores global ties and opens doors for young people, giving them the chance to learn and volunteer abroad. The scheme, put simply, is transformative and has the potential to uplift those on the margins of our society.”
Government National Youth Strategy: You said – so we will do. NEW this week – DCMS Webinar Slides/Next Steps in our follow up Special Edition which also includes an exploration of the accompanying ‘youthvoice’ reports ‘State of the Nation’ & ‘Young Peoples Report’ and reaction from James Cathcart (Dir, Youth Voice Heard) [Last weeks Youth Voice News 10th Dec, also published a quickscan highlight of #youthvoiceinfluence on the Youth Strategy promises to embed #youthvoice.]
ScoutsCymru – Good Practice Case Study 1: ‘from participation focused, to youth-led’ by CEO Kerrie Gemmell, gathers young peoples views on their journey, is an exemplar of youthvoice moving from ‘project’ to ‘policy’ in organisations. Includes excellent evidence-based insight and practical recommendations ScoutsCymru is already delivering! We could all do well to follow. Read more [First published Children Young People Now]
⭐Wolverhampton Council ‘Youth Voice Question Time’ Good Practice Case Study 2: A remarkable line up took questions from a cross section of 28 young representatives in a one off event organised by Co‑production and Youth Engagement Team. The panel featured the Leader of the City of Wolverhampton Council Councillor Stephen Simpkins, Leader of the Opposition Councillor Simon Bennett, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education Councillor Jacqui Coogan, Wolverhampton North East MP Sureena Brackenridge, Wolverhampton West MP Warinder Juss, and Alison Hinds, the council’s Executive Director of Families. Pat McFadden MP sent apologies but contributed a video message responding to questions from young people. Read more – Youth put politicians in the hot seat at Parliament Week event | City Of Wolverhampton Council for details and what was asked.
[Youth Voice Heard Here – Quality mark from me! Ed/JC]
⚡NYA’s ‘Youth Council UK’ Membership closing date 31 Dec 2025. Join asap to get Exec Committee nomination rights. Youth organisations/Supporting organisations can join and nominate reps (all ages) to a new Executive Committee for an £50 initial fee. The deadline for founder member sign-up and submission of nominations for elections is 31 December 2025. A nominations/elections pack with more information about the new structure and roles is due to be circulated “soon” to new members and posted on the information website at NYA YCUK. For more info, contact ycuk@nya.org.uk Note: timeline for activity is subject to change.
YCUK: Membership / Fee Structure: £50 joining fee and from April 2026 –
Small Organisation – £100, for local or community organisations or groups with fewer than 10,000 young participants or reach;
Medium Organisation – £500 for organisations with between 10,000 and 150,000 young participants, members, or reach.
Large Organisation – £1,500 for organisations with more than 150,000 young participants, members, or reach. This includes devolved nations and UK-wide participation structures.
“We believe no organisation should be excluded due to financial constraints. If needed, special arrangements can be made on a case-by-case basis to ensure participation remains accessible and fair”. NYA
♦ Votes for Schools New Report – 53,000 children & young people polled on whether schools should be preparing them for Votes at 16. Here is their results report. Perhaps the surprising result was that amongst secondary age young people, 46% didn’t think their schools should help prepare them to vote at 16. The report speculates that this might be to do with an overfull curriculum? Votes for Schools did a poll 3 years ago on whether Votes at 16 should even be introduced – with a majority against; however, other polls before and since had found in favour, and it can depend on the wording of the question sometimes, young people believe in the right to vote, but don’t believe they are ready (see Votesat16Watch polls). It’s expected that legislation will be accompanied by a drive to introduce measures to prepare young voters through a range of sources – perhaps by organisations led by young people themselves. You can also see more analysis here. Click here for full results
♦ Democracy Minister Samantha Dixon MP backs youth voice in democracy, explaining why the Government is lowering the voting age. Video (VotesforSchools) Link
Editors pick from #youthvoice influencers/commentators on LinkedIn. Check out the comments too! Note that whilst some are using LinkedIn to write mini-blogs others are going with the video format – Which do you prefer?
Jade Barnet, CEO Power2Prevail challenges organisations and campaigns who are ‘all about youthvoice’ to continue the journey beyond first contact, “Please don’t include young people in your campaigns, publications, or calls to action if you’re not prepared to continue including them as the work moves forward..Where was the call when decisions were being made?” Read the full post here
⭐Dan Lawes – Co CEO of My Life My Say Say, and member of DCMS Youth Advisory Group, on the Youth Strategy “We need cross-departmental coordination so youth policy doesn’t sit in silos – especially as major democratic engagement opportunities emerge, such as the growing national conversation around Votes at 16.”
⭐Lucy Read, researcher/consultant and #youthvoice at Future Views Today, on
1/ The new National Youth Strategy – Great graphics and analysis in this post
2/ The next steps to her excellent report Future Views Today – Open Data Youth Infrastructure Report NPC.pdf – Google Drive, promoting collaboration and co-production (with yp) that empowers young people in governance, design, and decision-making. NOTE – the report includes Young Voices Heard (which produces Youth Voice News) as a Case Study that ‘exemplifies the transformative potential of open youth infrastructure’.
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
⚡CoramVoice – A National Voice Ambassadors – is the national children in care council of the UK. recruiting ambassadors – 16-25, closing date 19th Dec 25 Click A National Voice Ambassadors (Coram Voice) – Youth Opportunities for details.
⚡Student Minds – Trustees 18-30. closing date 15th January 26. Click Youth Opportunities SM for details.
⚡Children’s Commissioner England is recruiting 16 young people for her final group of Young Ambassadors. To apply, you need to live in England and be aged 16 or 17 years old in April 2025. “Over the past two years, my first two groups of Youth Ambassadors have talked truth to power, bringing their voices and experiences to Secretaries of State, parliamentary Select Committees, CEOs of major companies and policy makers across government.” Deadline Sunday January 11th 2026. More info and application
⚡The Patchwork Foundation – free training p/t programme, 30th December, 11 sessions over a 10-month-long programme for 18-30 year olds interested in British politics and civil society. Aimed at communities and individuals who are traditionally underrepresented. “Alongside our Masterclasses, we host skills sessions throughout the year that focus on developing your personal and professional skills, and are led by our Alumni and supporters. These include public speaking, networking, debating, and more”. There is also optional mentoring support. More info and application click here.
If you have a #youthvoice opportunity coming up, drop us a line info@youngvoicesheard.org.uk
⚡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
SUPPORTERS OPPORTUNITIES
⚡Centre for Youth Voice – Newsletter & Free Training and Events timetable
December Newsletter 17/12 – New Resource (see below) , Reaction to Youth Strategy,
⚡NEW Resource: Involving Young People – A Toolkit for Peer Research / free / Centre for YouthVoice | The Centre for Youth Voice is committed to moving the sector beyond consultation toward genuine co-production. We are delighted to share the new Peer Research Toolkit, produced in partnership with Partnership for Young London and Trust for London.Drawing on a decade of learning and the expertise of over 200 peer researchers, this toolkit moves beyond the “why” of youth voice to the “how”. It provides the practical frameworks needed to treat young people not as subjects to be studied, but as co-researchers with the authority to lead. Link to toolkit
Centre for Youth Voice | Regional Youth Units November newsletter
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
RESOURCES:
⚡ Resource/ Training – Gamifying Democracy, The Politics Project
“This training is ideal for youth practitioners and teachers looking for meaningful, practical, and enjoyable ways to bring politics to life with young people. In this training, we’ll share games and activities you can use in youth settings to start conversations about politics and democracy. Designed for group settings in informal spaces, youth clubs, and classrooms, these games help young people explore their power, voice and their ideas for change. The easy-to-use games we’ll share in the training are specifically designed to support young people to explore their power and agency, their ideas and opinions about local, national and global topics, and their emotions towards politics and politicians. We are running this training three times, all online. Please sign up to the session most convenient to you:
⚡DCMS Research and Evaluation report “Youth worker interactions with other sectors” endorses role of youth workers in brokering youthvoice opportunities in cross-sector meeting. DCMS commissioned SQW (an independent research organisation) in partnership with UK Youth (the UK’s leading youth work charity) to undertake a research study exploring how, in practice, youth workers interact with other sector personnel and agencies. The full report includes a section ‘Suggestions for good practice’, for practitioners and policy makers. Section 9.17 Champion youth voice in cross-sector meetings states: “Where possible, youth workers should ensure young people are given opportunities to contribute to decision-making. This could include inviting young representatives to strategic meetings or collecting feedback from young people to present on their behalf. Memorandums of Understanding between youth work organisations and their partners in other sectors should include agreements about approaches to youth voice and power sharing with young people”. Comment: MOUs (Mem of Understanding) are one way in which Young Voices Heard has worked on a equal footing with exclusively youth-led organisations such as YouthPoliticsUK founded by Dan Lawes when he was 17 (now CEO of My Life My Say).
Recommended Reads from Linked NOVEMBER
Dan Moxon, Researcher, Practitioner & Expert on Youth Participation challenges the sector to “Stop stop treating youth participation as synonymous with child participation”.
⭐Dr Josh Harsant, Head of Youth Voice & Influence Barnardos, The ‘professional’ role of the Youth Participation Worker – reflections and recommendations,
⭐James Sloam, Professor of Politics at Royal Holloway, Uni of London, on How we can give young people more of a role in local decision-making? PLUS his blog for John Smith Centre Research & Insights series on how we can tackle the democratic deficit – low youth turnout and trust, especially amongst those from low-income backgrounds – by engaging young people in the shaping of public policy between elections.
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.