Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy – Your chance to hear more

Information from DCMS Youth Newsletter – January 2026:
On 10th December, we were excited to publish ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’, as well as ‘Youth Matters: State of the Nation’ Report. It has been great to hear some of the reaction from sector leaders, practitioners and young people. If you are a practitioner who would like to send us your feedback please complete this feedback form.

We want to keep the conversation going. This is why we are organising a period of engagement for the new National Youth Strategy. If you are interested in attending these events, whether you are a sector professional or a young person, please express your interest below. We will then be in contact with details for events once they are all finalised.

For Sector Professionals: Regional Roadshows

We are working in partnership with the National Youth Agency, the Regional Youth Work Units, and UK Youth to run regional roadshows.

• How to join: If you are interested in attending the sector professional events, please complete this Expression of Interest.

We are delighted that the first roadshow will take place at the North West’s 2026 Conference on Youth Work on 29th January. Please be aware that sign ups for this event are already full.

For Young People: Seen & Heard Events

The new National Youth Strategy, Youth Matters, was shaped by insights from over 14,000 young people across England through the National Youth Research Project. Seen & Heard events, delivered in partnership with the #iWill Movement, are the next step in that journey.

• How to join: Young people can register their interest now to take part in a Seen & Heard event in their region here. If you work professionally with young people, please forward this link to them.

Taking place across all nine regions of England, these gatherings will bring young people together with DCMS and local leaders to reflect on the findings of Youth Matters and explore what its priorities mean in practice for their local area. These events will create space for honest feedback, shared learning, and early commitments about how the strategy can translate into local change

Webinars

Thank you to everyone who joined our Youth Matters Webinar on 16th December to learn more about the Strategy. For those who couldn’t attend, or if you would like to share the content with your networks, the presentation slides are available here.

Our toolkit also includes other products such as social media assets and session plans designed for use with young people.

In the next webinar we will be diving into the details of our ‘State of the Nation Report’. This will be a great way to learn more about the data, methodology and insights which helped inform the ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’. We will send out more information soon.