The Local Youth Transformation Pilot
Information about the Local Youth Transformation Pilot (LYTP) including its aims, delivery model and participating local authorities.
Applies to England
The Local Youth Transformation Pilot is part of the wider Young Futures Hubs and Transformation Programme.
Programme aims
The Local Youth Transformation Pilot invested £8 million over 2025/26 to support 12 ‘Pathfinder’ local authorities to start to rebuild a high-quality offer for young people and transition back to local youth services leadership. The pilot tested ways to rebuild local authority capability to ensure a local youth offer which addresses the needs of young people and supports government priorities.
The objectives of the Local Youth Transformation Pilot were to:
- improve capability in 12 local authorities to improve their local youth offer
- build DCMS’ and wider government understanding of the challenges and opportunities local authorities face, and how local authorities can best be supported to build capability to effectively meet their statutory duty and deliver effective services for young people
- ensure longer term sustainability in participating local authorities to deliver their youth services statutory duty
Delivery and evaluation partners
The NYA, with UK Youth, Regional Youth Work Units, YPF Trust, Centre for Young Lives, Streetgames and Local Government Association, worked as a delivery partner for the pilot. Through tailored advice, tools, resources and consultation, they supported Pathfinder local authorities to assess current youth provision in the community, understand the needs of young people in their areas, and develop a plan to improve provision for young people.
The pilot is currently being evaluated by Fortia Insight. The evaluation will support our understanding of the pilot by assessing how the pilot was implemented, how taking part affected local authority youth offers and capability to meet the youth services statutory duty, and how the role of local context influenced delivery and outcomes.
Delivery model
We recognise that local authorities are best placed to understand their own needs, which is why this pilot was focussed on working with and supporting Pathfinder local authorities in a way that works for them.Â
There were 4 core phases of the Local Youth Transformation Pilot all Pathfinder local authorities undertook.
Phase 1- Developing understanding
To establish the areas of improvement that each Pathfinder local authority addressed during the pilot, local authorities, the delivery partner and DCMS sought to understand the current level of provision and services.Â
The delivery partner worked with each local authority and, where applicable, their local partners, to carry out an assessment of existing youth provision and needs. This involved mapping provision, carrying out interviews with stakeholders and young people, and analysing data. The review included services delivered by local authorities as well as those provided by third sector organisations and employers.
Phase 2- Developing an action plan
Using this insight, local authorities, with support from the delivery partner, developed an action plan to deliver within the pilot timeframe that reflects local authority strategic priorities and direction. The action plan prioritised specific areas of need from the assessment of provision and set out how the local authority intends to improve against these areas. Â
The delivery partner where required, supported local authorities to understand and plan how to engage with young people to ensure their voices are heard in the development of the action plan.Â
Action plans were shared with and reviewed by DCMS, who assured the plans and approved grant funding for implementation.
Phase 3- Implementation of action plans
The delivery partner provided a tailored package of advice and support for local authorities and their partners (where applicable) to implement their plans, including producing practical tools and guidance and providing ongoing support and consultation.
Phase 4- Review of action plans
As the pilot comes to a close, the delivery partner has worked with each local authority to carry out a follow-up review of the action plan and the progress made during implementation. This has provided an opportunity to reflect on positive changes as a result of participating in the pilot, consider the impact of activities undertaken through the action plan, and identify further opportunities to build on successes achieved.Â
Using these insights, the delivery partner has supported local authorities to develop longer term action plans to ensure the sustainability of the outcomes achieved during the lifetime of the pilot.
Participating local authorities
The effective delivery of the Local Youth Transformation Pilot required careful selection of Pathfinder local authorities to ensure robust learnings which could facilitate wider roll-outs.Â
To reflect the small size of the pilot, limited data on existing youth provision, and to reduce administrative burden on local authorities, an Expression of Interest (EOI) process was chosen to select the local authorities.
43 local authorities with the highest levels of young people living in families facing income deprivation (as measured by Income Deprivation Affection Children Index (IDACI)), by region, were invited to submit an EOI.Â
IDACI was chosen based on its links to the objectives of the fund, and transparency and quality of the data available. IDACI brings together 7 factors which can influence levels of deprivation for children including:
- income
- employment
- education
- health
- crime
- barriers to housing and services
- living environment
Research by the Social Mobility Commission found a . Children from the poorest households were much less likely to take part in any extra-curricular activity, but particularly music and sport. The DCMS Youth Participation Survey found that . This fund targets areas with higher proportions of young people that are less likely to participate in enriching activities, to build high-quality youth offers.
EOIs were reviewed by DCMS to understand why local authorities wanted to participate and the benefits that taking part would have for the local authority and youth provision.
12 Pathfinder local authorities were selected to participate in the pilot, representing a range of geographies, contexts and youth service operating models.Â
Local authorities who were not selected for the pilot will not be excluded from participating in any future phases of the programme. Learning from the pilot will be shared with the sector more widely, and we anticipate that the pilot will have benefits beyond the selected Pathfinder local authorities.
Local authority funding
Funding allocations for Pathfinder local authorities were based on their action plans and local needs assessments. Confirmed revenue funding and capital funding allocations are listed in the table below:Â
| Region | Local authority | Revenue grant award value | Capital grant award value |
| East Midlands | Derbyshire | £550,000.00 | £50,000.00 |
| East of England | Peterborough | £673,471.06 | £50,000.00 |
| London | Islington | £560,140.00 | £61,000.00 |
| London | Southwark | £471,443.00 | £76,000.00 |
| North East | Hartlepool | £557,718.12 | £75,900.00 |
| North West | Knowsley | £523,042.29 | £60,000.00 |
| North West | Liverpool | £546,161.00 | £50,000.00 |
| South East | Oxfordshire | £634,347.00 | £50,000.00 |
| South West | Cornwall | £677,664.36 | N/A |
| West Midlands | Shropshire | £621,131.00 | £74,000.00 |
| West Midlands | Stoke-on-Trent | £599,735.85 | £71,877.00 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | Doncaster | £565,000.00 | £75,000.00 |
Cornwall Council did not submit a proposal for capital expenditure and was therefore not awarded a Local Youth Transformation Pilot capital grant.
Key outputs
Action plans differed between local authorities based on the unique context of each local authority and the needs identified during the assessment of provision. Key outputs from the Pathfinder local authorities included:Â
- Workforce development: Level 1 to 3 youth work qualifications for local authority and Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) staff, developing pathways into youth work careers, volunteer training, development of supervision models, tailored thematic courses such as trauma informed practice, mentoring schemes for young people and/or early career professionals.
- Increased collaboration and coordination with Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector (VSCF) partners: Establishing city/county/borough wide forums, establishing local youth partnerships and infrastructure organisations, providing small grants to pilot innovative new provision, providing micro-grants for youth led projects, providing seed funding for VCS organisations to build capability and generate further investment, convening ‘youth summits’ to share practice and generate further momentum.
- Mapping and coordinating provision: Implementing regional coordination frameworks, rolling out monitoring and reporting frameworks, developing place-based offers based on hyper local needs, strengthening links between schools and youth workers, developing transition pathways between play and youth providers.
- Strengthening youth participation:Â Developing youth commissioning schemes, establishing or strengthening local authority youth voice structures, setting up young inspector schemes, redeveloping processes to embed youth co-production into local authority governance and youth offer development as standard practice.
- Youth work practice and quality: Rolling out consistent standards and quality assurance frameworks, implementing a locally informed youth work curriculum across local authority and VCS providers, supporting local organisations to embed enhanced safeguarding practices, rolling out use of shared reporting templates and shared Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems.
Case study: The Liverpool Local Youth Transformation Pilot
The Liverpool Local Youth Transformation Pilot is an example of building the foundations of a stronger youth system co-designed with young people. This transformation addresses systemic challenges through sustained investment, professional development, and structural connectivity.
- The programme’s key initiatives consisted of reconnecting the youth sector through coordinated partnership events called ‘Young Liverpool’, to give young people meaningful opportunities to directly shape local policy and decisions.Â
- Commissioned Liverpool’s first comprehensive Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for youth work.
- System change was enabled through the development of a ‘digital front door’, an AI-enabled digital platform to serve as a unified entry point for young people and families.
- Securing a £1 million annual commitment to youth work through Public Health and the council’s core budget, over £100k invested in workforce development, and 300 funded learning opportunities.
The pilot will be delivered across 2025 to 2026, with all activity ending in autumn 2026.Â
An interim evaluation report will be developed in December 2025, and the final evaluation report will be published by December 2026.
Updates to this page
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Added the confirmed capital funding allocation for local authorities.
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Confirmed funding allocations added. Pilot end date amended to 31 August 2026.
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First published.