Laura Cunliffe Hall

I responded to the latest Government announcement on support measures from the Department for Work and Pensions for young people classified as Not In Education, Employment or Training (NEET).

I launched UK Youth's latest policy report on mental health and wellbeing at a roundtable with senior policymakers and funders.

I wrote a follow up blog on next steps for the youth sector following on from the launch of the National Youth Strategy.

I was quoted in the following BBC Long Read article on youth loneliness:

Council-funded youth clubs operate around the country. Most are currently aimed at teenagers and children, but Laura Cunliffe-Hall, head of policy at charity UK Youth, wants to see more clubs for people in their early 20s. She argues that youth work should serve everyone up to the age of 25.

Funding, she says, is the barrier. Local authority spending on youth services in England fell by 73% between 2010/11 and 2023/24, according to the charity YMCA.

I led UK Youth's response to the National Youth Strategy, the first of its kind in decades.

I responded to the 2025 Autumn Budget on behalf of UK Youth.

I drafted UK Youth's response to the government's announcement on the launch of Young Futures Hubs

Yesterday (1st July), the Government voted to pass the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Bill that will alter the current welfare system.

The Bill passing means that changes to the Universal Credit system will affect new claimants, cutting payments in half from 2026 for people with a limited capacity to work because of a disability or long term sickness. I drafted UK Youth's response to the Bill.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves set out the Government’s spending plans for the next three years in today’s Spending Review.

The Review highlighted the recently announced Dormant Assets Funding, and how it marks the Government’s commitment to a “significant programme of capital investment to build new youth centres, and improve and equip existing facilities, as well as funding for activities that young people want to take part in.”

Ministers and MPs demonstrated cross-party support for putting youth work at the heart of the upcoming National Youth Strategy.

Youth representatives, MPs, peers, civil servants and leading youth organisations came together at a Back Youth Alliance event in the Palace of Westminster to discuss how the government can ensure all young people have access to the support, opportunities, trusted adults and safe spaces they need to thrive.

The Back Youth Alliance has published an evidence review and polling to inform the development of the National Youth Strategy – formally launched at a panel session in parliament with culture minister Stephanie Peacock.

The BYA is a strategic coalition of the UK’s most prominent youth sector organisations, including UK Youth, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and National Youth Agency, writes Laura Cunliffe-Hall, UK Youth head of policy and public affairs.

UK Youth has warned the Government must support young people after a “worrying” Spring Statement. Laura Cunliffe-Hall, UK Youth head of policy and public affairs, said: “Today’s Spring Statement is a worrying indication of things to come for young people."

UK Youth has urged the Government to invest in youth work – and reap the financial and social benefits long-term in its Spending Review submission.

Laura Cunliffe-Hall, UK Youth head of policy and public affairs, said: “Investment in youth service infrastructure is a necessary and high-value intervention that will deliver long-term economic and social benefits. Strategic investment in youth services reduces pressure on acute public services, including mental health, criminal justice, education, and welfare."