Youth Opportunities and Dormant Assets Funding

Vicky Foxcroft Excerpts

Friday 13th November 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Vicky Foxcroft)]

I am today updating the House on a package of measures to expand opportunities for young people across England, enabling far more access to activities such as youth clubs, community sports and performing arts. These measures are important further steps to deliver “Youth Matters”, which is the Government strategy to support the next generation to thrive by increasing the number of places to go, things to do and adults who care.

The Government are announcing the 60 local areas in England which will receive support through the new youth matters fund. These areas will benefit from over £20 million immediately and over £400 million of investment over the coming three years. Young people will help determine the new activities and youth facilities they most want in these areas. Funding has been targeted towards areas facing the greatest challenges.

Alongside this, the Government are announcing an additional £106 million of dormant assets funding in England for the youth cause, taking the total to £238 million between 2024 and 2028. This funding is all being invested into “Every Child Can”—a suite of programmes that provide young people with access to enrichment opportunities, helping them build skills, confidence, resilience and connections within their communities. A new every child can fund, managed by the National Lottery Community Fund, will use approximately £173 million of this funding to enable organisations across England to provide young people with greater access to enriching opportunities: sports and physical activity, arts and culture, civic participation, nature, outdoor and adventure and wider life and future skills.

I am also pleased to announce that the National Theatre has partnered with a network of theatres in all nine regions and with young people to develop a programme that builds regional theatres’ capacity to deliver sustained impact for young people—ensuring young people everywhere have access to life-changing opportunities through the power of theatre. The programme is expected to reach over 100,000 young people through roadshows, school tours, and thousands of subsidised tickets. The project will be funded by up to £15 million from every child can subject to a successful solicitation process.

These programmes build on previously announced programmes, including £12.5 million to ensure that every primary school has a library by the end of this Parliament, £12.5 million to support music in libraries and £10 million for a creative industries mentoring scheme for young people that have experienced being in care. It also builds on the wider work this Government are doing to ensure more children and young people have access to high-quality enriching activities. This includes the £22.5 million enrichment expansion programme which is supporting 400 secondary schools to improve their enrichment offer, the £600 million—over the next three financial years—holiday and activities food programme which provides free holiday clubs and enriching activities during school holidays to children from low-income households, as well as the enrichment framework to support schools and colleges across England to strengthen their enrichment offer.

These announcements form part of the Government’s wider commitment to fundamentally rebuild the support available to young people and youth services. Through the “Youth Matters” strategy, we are putting young people’s voices at the heart of decision making and working with local communities, civil society organisations and national partners to support young people to thrive across the country.

Further information on the youth matters fund, every child can and associated funding opportunities will be published on gov.uk.

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