A blueprint for Young Futures hubs

The Fund the Hubs campaign has long been calling  for a national network of early support hubs to ensure that children and young people receive timely mental health and wellbeing support. The Government’s commitment to roll out Young Futures hubs to deliver open access mental health support to children and young people in local communities now presents a timely opportunity to truly integrate and invest in early intervention for children and young people. 

Alongside our Fund the Hubs campaign partners (Centre for Mental Health, Youth Access, YoungMinds, Mind, The Children’s Society, Black Thrive Global and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), we have produced ‘A blueprint for Young Futures hubs’.  

In the Blueprint, we set out how early support hubs can be used as a base from which to grow the nationwide network of Young Futures hubs and progress the Government’s missions. With sustainable funding for existing hubs, alongside the development of new hubs in areas currently underserved, the Government can ensure that every young person has access to a trusted, welcoming support hub within their local community. 

The Blueprint calls for the Government to set out a roadmap to deliver a hub in every local authority area, sufficiently resourced to offer accessible outreach provision beyond the physical hub, with the aim to have achieved 70% coverage within the next five years and 100% by the end of 2035. To achieve this, the Government should: 

1. Use the upcoming Spending Review to commit to a multi-year funding package for the roll out of Young Futures hubs. We estimate that £169 million per year is required to roll out a hub in every local area, with a further £74m to £121m needed for capital and set up costs. 
2. Carry out a comprehensive, cross-government consultation on delivering open access support for children and young people. This should include meaningful engagement with existing service providers, as well as establishing a ‘national design panel’ to co-design these services with young people. 
3. Take a cross-departmental approach throughout the development of the Young Futures programme, ensuring that it aligns with long-term, cross-departmental strategies such as the Youth Strategy, the Child Poverty Strategy, and the 10-year Health Plan. 
4. Develop joint commissioning guidance for local areas on implementing Young Futures hubs. This should include a mandated level of funding for hub services to ensure they are adequately resourced. 
5. Work with existing hub providers to design a clear and consistent outcomes framework that captures both quantitative and qualitative data. 
6. Set out a workforce development plan to support the roll-out of hubs.
7. Put in place a mechanism to capture and share learning and quality practice from hubs to support continuous development.