February 2025. We responded to MSP Martin Whitfield’s proposal for a Youth Work Bill.
Youth work in Scotland plays an important role in ensuring children can access their UNCRC rights. It impacts a wide range of children’s rights and makes an important contribution to delivering children’s rights in Scotland. We therefore welcome this Bill proposal[1] which aims to strengthen the framework within which youth work is delivered. We support the ambition that high quality youth work should be available to all children in Scotland. We also welcome the proposals for national standards and continuous evaluation. These must be developed with the participation of a broad range of children and young people.
We acknowledge the important role that third sector organisations play in providing a wide range of youth work at present. These services are often well-established and embedded in communities whose needs they have extensive experience and knowledge of supporting. This is particularly the case in many of Scotland’s more deprived communities. Any Bill should be carefully framed to ensure that it does not inadvertently impact on the funding of these services. Any universal youth work offer introduced by local authorities as a result of duties created by this Bill should enhance capacity rather than displacing existing provision. We would not want to see a loss of existing funding for third sector youth work provision. There is a risk that targeted youth work might find it harder to secure funding, this could potentially present a regression of the realisation of children’s rights for some children who benefit from targeted provision. It will also be important to address the negative impacts of short-term funding, including on both service users and staff.
What children and young people say
Through our ongoing programme of engagement, we meet with children and young people in a wide range of settings to discuss their priorities, to inform and continually refine the Commissioners work. Children and young people we meet with are often supported by different youth work providers. We hear that youth work plays an important role in children and young people’s lives, particularly in relation to their right to education, but that both after school activities and out of school youth work has been impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic and by budget cuts. Young people also highlight the importance of ensuring the availability of youth spaces for young people of secondary school age. One group of young people told us that there was a particular lack of opportunities for young people aged 16 and 17.
In Together’s State of Children’s Rights Report 2024[2], a number of children and young people highlighted the importance that youth work has in their lives and the wide variety of youth work they engaged with. The following are a small sample of their comments.
Specialist provision plays an important role in the lives of many children, including disabled children and young carers.
“Barnardo’s helps me a lot. I go to a holiday hub and they are the best people and make lots of fun with me. I also go to a club at Capability Scotland and they are really important because they help me have fun and meet friends and make me feel special.” Dave, age 13, Edinburgh
“Feeling someone is there for your highs and lows and understands your position in the caring role.” anonymous, supported by Scottish Youth Parliament and Carers Trust Scotland
But disabled children can face barriers, especially with privately-run provision:
“I would like to go to a sports club but no one local can support me there due to autism and the owners of the clubs say I can’t go.” Anonymous, age 11
Meanwhile, some highlighted the role that uniformed groups such as Guiding and Scouts played in developing their skills.
“I go to Scouts. It is all outside all year. I really like it. We get to learn knife skills and cooking and camping. I love going to Scout ScotJam. School should be like Scouts.” – Tiglo, aged 11.
Some children had experienced a reduction in provision due to funding:
“Youth clubs being shut down and no funding changed my life and made me more isolated.” Anonymous, supported by Scottish Youth Parliament and Carers Trust Scotland
The right to education
The UNCRC defines education broadly, with Article 29 presenting a vision of an education that develops “the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential”.[3] This will not be achieved solely through traditional school education for all children. The diversity of youth work provision provides opportunities for a different kind of learning. It also plays an important role building the confidence, emotional resilience and life skills of children and young people.
The right to play, recreation and leisure
Article 31 of the UNCRC provides children with a right to “rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts” and that “States parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life, and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreation and leisure activity”.[4] In Scotland, this right is frequently delivered through youth work – organised by local authorities, by third sector organisations and the private sector and is funded through a variety of means. As an important vehicle to fulfil children’s rights, there is an obligation on the Scottish Government and local authorities, on behalf of the state, to ensure that youth work is properly resourced.
In their 2023 Concluding Observations on their examination of the UK’s progress in achieving the rights contained in the UNCRC, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended “develop a strategy, with sufficient resources, aimed at ensuring children’s right to rest leisure and recreation…”[5] (our emphasis).
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic had a disproportionate impact on the lives of children and young people, in particular disrupting their right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly (Article 15)[6] and their right to play, rest and leisure (Article 31).
Many were unable to meet with their friends for extended periods, with restrictions on social gatherings disproportionately impacting teenagers who faced more restrictions than young children. Youth work opportunities were significantly reduced, and in-person activities were particularly slow to recommence once restrictions were lifted. Young people also experienced limitations on places they could socialise with their peers.
Youth work has played an important role post-pandemic, but we have been concerned to hear from children that some of the services they enjoyed prior to the pandemic have not re-opened.
Other rights engaged
In addition to Articles 15, 29 and 31, youth work engages with a broad range of the rights contained within the UNCRC.
Youth work supports the realisation of children’s right to the best attainable standard of health (Article 24)[7] in a range of ways. It can contribute to physical health through provision of exercise and develop children’s understanding of healthy nutrition. Youth work’s impact on mental health and wellbeing is particularly important – it provides opportunities for socialisation, allows supportive friendships to develop, provides contact with supportive adults and can destigmatise more targeted support. It can act both as a preventative measure and as a support to recovery.
Targeted youth work is one of the key ways of realising the rights of a wide range of groups, including disabled children (and those with other support needs), those experiencing poverty, children disengaged with formal education, those with experience of domestic abuse, children at risk of being in conflict with the law and care experienced children and young people.
In General Comment No. 5 on the General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“GC5”)[8], the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (“the UN Committee”) elaborate on the concept of progressive realisation of human rights “to the maximum extent of available resources”. They make it clear that even where resources are limited, “States are required to undertake all possible measures towards the realization of the rights of the child, paying special attention to the most disadvantaged groups”.
Youth work can be a protective factor for children at risk of harm through violence or exploitation (including sexual exploitation and trafficking) (Articles 19, 32, 34, 35 and 36)[9] and support the physical and psychological recovery of children who have been harmed (Article 39). This includes children who have experienced domestic abuse, those who are care experienced and those at risk of being in conflict with the law.
For disabled children and young people, provision of targeted youth work is also part of the states obligation under Article 23 of the UNCRC to ensure that they “enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate [their] active participation in the community” and to ensure that they have access to assistance, including recreational opportunities, “conducive to the child’s achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development…”[10]
Youth work can also provide opportunities for ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their culture, to practice their religion or to use his or her own language (Article 30).
In their General Comment No. 20 on the implementation of the rights of the child in adolescence (GC20), the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child drew particular attention to Article 31 and highlighted the importance of ensuring that older children “can engage and participate freely in play, recreational and artistic activities”. The Committee was concerned that “those rights are widely neglected in adolescence, especially for girls. Fear of and hostility towards adolescents in public spaces, and adolescent friendly urban planning, educational and leisure infrastructure can inhibit the ability to engage in recreational activity and sports”.[11] Youth work plays an important part in addressing this.
[1] Scottish Parliament, 2025. Draft Proposal. Proposed Youth Work Scotland Bill. https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/proposals-for-bills/proposed-youth-work-scotland-bill
[2] https://www.togetherscotland.org.uk/media/3800/socrr2024_final.pdf page 118-125
[3] Article 29(1)(a) https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc/#29
[4] UNCRC Article 31 https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc/#31
[5] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2023. Concluding observations on the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=CFCPwUAkbOjZGWOKAFzB0fhPVInkVGyfZxtzgle6YAVT8gVrJgQeygQ6vGmjEGbSk4t8o2axHhWrnk1re2aXjw%3D%3D
[6] UNCRC Article 15 https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc/#15
[7] UNCRC Article 24 https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc/#24
[8] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2003. General Comment No. 5 on the General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2FGC%2F2003%2F5&Lang=en
[9] UNCRC Full text. https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc
[10] UNCRC Article 23. https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc/#23
[11] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2016. General Comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child in adolescence. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/TBSearch.aspx?Lang=en&TreatyID=5&DocTypeID=11