What does the pledge mean? 

The Young Futures Programme, which aims to tackle knife crime and address rising mental health issues among young people, was first announced at the Labour Party Conference in October 2023. 

According to the party’s manifesto, the government will “intervene earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime, creating a new Young Futures programme with a network of hubs reaching every community”. It adds: “These hubs will have youth workers, mental health support workers, and careers advisers on hand to support young people’s mental health and avoid them being drawn into crime.”

What progress has been made?

Shortly after the election, the charity Oasis announced that it would open a pilot hub on the site of a former girls school in South London, and this has now happened. The charity reportedly also had at least four further hubs in development. 

Although Oasis has said the first site is intended to act as a “blueprint” for other hubs, and that it was announced “following conversations with the Labour team”, it is not a formal Home Office project. 

Oasis founder Steve Chalke said: “Our work is to support Labour in their manifesto promises… We are getting started ahead of the policy detail and funding being worked on and finalised, because that is the best way to inform that process.”

According to reports in The Guardian earlier this year, the home secretary Yvette Cooper described the programme as “a 10-year vision”.

The manifesto assigns total funding of £95 million for the creation of the hubs, with the revenue coming from applying VAT and business rates to private schools. The change to the VAT status does not apply until the start of next year, so none of the money it is expected to raise will arrive before then. 

Legislation to enable further progress with the hubs is likely to be contained with the government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which the Home Office told Full Fact is set to be launched in early 2025.