The National Youth Agency is the national body for youth work, and the Professional Statutory Regulatory Body (PSRB) for youth work in England. We have been transforming lives through youth work for over 50 years. By championing, professionalising, and enabling youth work, we strive to find better, more inventive ways to empower more young people.
NYA holds a unique position within the youth sector, offering guidance, support, advice, training, and staff development opportunities for youth workers and youth work organisations. We deliver training both face-to-face and through our online learning Academy. Our team of Youth Work Specialists are experienced youth workers and teaching staff and are well placed to support professional development of staff teams and individuals.
As the PSRB we are responsible for quality assurance and compliance for all Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) recognised programmes in the country through the Education Training Standards committee, and more widely in the UK through JETS. This includes quality assurance and compliance on youth work programmes from Level 2 – 6.
All young people deserve a productive, fulfilling future. Society needs the spark and energy of young people to make it tick, yet somehow thousands of young people feel blocked by the complex, sometimes disheartening challenges the modern world throws at them.
Youth work is the best methodology to unlock young people’s potential by providing high quality support and opportunities. Skilled youth workers build relationships that support young people to explore their personal, social, and educational development. Youth work enables young people to develop their voice, influence, and place within society.
The National Youth Agency offers training and workforce development opportunities, insights into the latest data on the youth sector landscape and continues to listen to the sector to ensure their voices are heard at local and national government levels.
The National Youth Sector Census - Third Report (1.95 MiB)
The National Youth Agency has been tasked by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to manage the National Youth Sector Census and create a reliable dataset to help demonstrate the impact of youth work and improve the knowledge and insight for the youth sector and policy makers. This latest report from the Census shows that a fifth of youth work organisations have a waiting list of between three and six months and are struggling to meet demand. Despite undeniable need for these services, a quarter of voluntary sector organisations delivering youth work have less than six months’ of reserves. Key findings from the report include: Of the 920 youth work organisations analysed in the cut of data, 57% are operating in the most deprived postcodes. Those working in the most deprived areas have higher expenditure and predicted expenditure that those in the least deprived areas. Organisations value professionally qualified staff and tend to have a higher proportion of employed staff with a youth work qualification than not. In the most deprived areas, organisations are more likely to have a higher number of paid staff, but a lower number of volunteers. The report provides an analysis of the data received from 920 youth work organisations between March 2022 and April 2023, providing a snapshot of the Sector for the third time since the Census was launched in 2021.
The National Youth Work Curriculum (1.02 MiB)
The National Youth Work Curriculum enables a greater understanding of youth work practice, provide an educational framework and act as a reference tool to be used by decision makers, policy makers, commissioners, youth workers and young people.
Youth Work Practice Standards (2.02 MiB)
The Youth Work Practice Standards outlines the minimum requirements for the delivery of youth work. It is your guide to suitable levels of governance, planning and evaluation and highlights the requirements in place which affect providers and young people. It illustrates best practice and everything a provider needs to know to deliver youth work legally, safely and effectively. It is a go-to guide to support youth work delivery across all levels of organisation. The Practice Standards include a description of what constitutes youth work and its purpose. It also covers where youth work takes place and guidance for recruiting staff, professional pay and parity, and workforce ratios. It also describes how organisations can include young people in decision making, embedding active youth participation in their youth work activities.
Youth Work Safeguarding Standards (2.26 MiB)
The Safeguarding Standards have been designed to support good safeguarding practices for all those working with children and young people, adults at risk, volunteers and paid staff in youth work environments. This collaborative tool has been designed for and with youth work organisations and young people. It includes a definition of safeguarding, the role of safeguarding, active participation and relationships and the legislative framework to underpin this. It sets out how best to embed a culture of safeguarding across your organisation to support staff (paid and unpaid) and young people. The Standards support individuals and organisations to go one step further than compliance and embedding a culture of safeguarding, to further integrate safeguarding in their organisation and make it part of your identity and values: creating a ‘culture plus’ organisation.
Youth work in Private Dwellings (185.52 KiB)
We have a legal and moral duty to safeguard the young people we work with. All work with young people in the youth sector must be free from harm and danger – there should be no compromise in standards. The NYA believes that youth work and youth sector activity delivered in private dwellings is fundamentally unsafe and should not take place. Developed in response to direct requests from the youth sector, the Private Dwellings report aims to create a sector that is safer and offers better protection, wherever young people engage with youth work or sector activities. This important resource ensures that youth workers are fully equipped to protect and safeguard young people, first and foremost. It also provides a useful reference for those commissioning youth work to ensure that their provision meets the optimum standards for safeguarding. The report includes a set of policy recommendations which place a greater onus on those delivering and commissioning youth work to be held accountable for the safety of youth work, including legislative changes; the registration of youth work spaces; and national guidance for local authorities.
The NYA's Safeguarding and Risk Management Hub offers advice, resources and training for the youth sector to deliver best practice safeguarding. The NYA understands that keeping young people and staff safe is incremental to great youth work and we want the sector to have access to a range of resources to deliver best practice.
Visit the Safeguarding and Risk Management Hub here https://www.nya.org.uk/skills/safeguarding-and-risk-management-hub/
A review of the current provision that is available for young people in Blackpool aged 7-25, was carried out by the National Youth Agency, in partnership with Youth Focus North West and supported by a steering group made up of local voluntary community youth sector organisations and Blackpool Council.
After securing funding for this important piece of work, ongoing collaborative work has been undertaken with the third sector to review the existing youth provision across the town. This review has included surveys and focus groups with young people and will help drive the future of youth provision.
Providing Quality Services for Young People through the NYA Quality Mark
We believe in the power of Youth Work and the difference it can make to young people’s lives. A wealth of knowledge exists which demonstrates a clear link between the quality of services provided to young people and the outcomes they achieve in their transition to adulthood.
The National Youth Agency Quality Mark enables organisations, however large or small, to reflect upon and review the services that they offer young people, enabling them to explore ways to develop and provide youth work to the best possible standard. Quality Mark is built on the National Occupational Standards for youth work.
The National Youth Sector Census is a survey of all youth sector provision across England. It aims to capture an accurate picture of youth services and out of school activities.
If you’re delivering support to young people, places where they can have fun, with the support of a youth worker and volunteers who advise, guide and create opportunities for young people then you should be included.
The National Youth Agency has been funded by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport to deliver the Census and analyse the data.
The Youth Work Practice Standards outlines the minimum requirements for the delivery of youth work. It is your guide to suitable levels of governance, planning and evaluation and highlights the requirements in place which affect providers and young people. It illustrates best practice and everything a provider needs to know to deliver youth work legally, safely and effectively. It is a go-to guide to support youth work delivery across all levels of organisation.
The Practice Standards include a description of what constitutes youth work and its purpose. It also covers where youth work takes place and guidance for recruiting staff, professional pay and parity, and workforce ratios.
It also describes how organisations can include young people in decision making, embedding active youth participation in their youth work activities.
The Safeguarding Standards have been designed to support good safeguarding practices for all those working with children and young people, adults at risk, volunteers and paid staff in youth work environments. This collaborative tool has been designed for and with youth work organisations and young people.
It includes a definition of safeguarding, the role of safeguarding, active participation and relationships and the legislative framework to underpin this. It sets out how best to embed a culture of safeguarding across your organisation to support staff (paid and unpaid) and young people.
The Standards support individuals and organisations to go one step further than compliance and embedding a culture of safeguarding, to further integrate safeguarding in their organisation and make it part of your identity and values: creating a ‘culture plus’ organisation.
Sam's Story - Football Beyond Borders Sam's Story was launched by Football Beyond Borders with the National Youth Agency in November 2022 as part of National Youth Work Week. It tells the story of a youth worker, what life is like for them and the support they give to the community.