Youth Matters, the Government’s new Youth Strategy could provide an important
opportunity to improve the lives and wellbeing of young people.

The first strategy in over a generation, aims to ensuring young people feel seen, heard and
supported. A key part of this will be providing meaningful mental health support, and while
we are pleased the Government has allocated £70 million as part of the strategy to establish
50 youth future hubs by 2029, it falls below their commitment for a hub in every
community.

Our #FundTheHubs campaign has been calling for a network of early support hubs across
the country, to provide young people somewhere to go when they first start to struggle with
their mental health. We need the Government to build on this announcement and follow
through with their manifesto commitment. They must also ensure that these hubs provide
direct support from a qualified mental health professional and not just information or
signposting.

We are pleased the plan recognises the impact mental health is having on their future
opportunities for young people, and its focus on building trusted relationships, providing
more spaces and joined support all has the potential to improve lives.

We also welcome the recommissioning of children and young people’s mental health
prevalence survey, which will better understand the support young people need. And the
reaffirmation of the roll out of Mental Health Support Teams in schools, which we hope the
Government will expand to cover a wider variety of mental health difficulties.

However, for the plan to be a success it must have by in from all departments and be
backed up by stable long-term investment. It must also keep young people at the centre of
the strategy, making sure they can influence decisions to reflect their communities and give
them mechanisms to hold the Government to account.

The Government committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. If they are
genuine in achieving this, they must now implement fully and build on this plan.