Pledge
“Labour 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”
Our verdict
The government has confirmed locations and funding for eight “early adopter” Young Futures hubs to be open by 2026, and says a total of 50 will be open by 2029, though details for the remaining 42 have yet to be set out.
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.”
The government’s website suggests this pledge applies only to England.
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We are rating this pledge as “in progress”, as the government has now set out plans to open eight YF hubs by March 2026 and says that it will open 50 YF Hubs by 2029, though it remains to be seen if these will successfully reach “every community” in England.
Eight “early adopter” local authorities are set to open YF Hubs by March 2026—Nottingham, Tower Hamlets, County Durham, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol and Leeds.
In July 2025, the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government would open 50 YF hubs by 2029, and that each hub would be for 10 to 18-year-olds. The government said in December that each hub will meet three outcomes: “increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime”, and that they’ll be part of a “local transformation programme of £70 million”.
The government’s National Youth Strategy, published in December 2025, said youth workers and “professionals” will be placed in YF hubs to provide “targeted support”, such as career guidance, wellbeing advice and violence prevention.
It also said the “Young Futures Programme” consists of both the YF Hubs as well as YF Prevention Partnerships, which it said will: “identify young people vulnerable to being drawn into crime at local authority level and provide them with support at the right time (including via Young Futures Hubs)”.
We asked the government how the locations for the remaining 42 hubs will be determined, and how it will assess whether the 50 hubs reach “every community”. It told us its work with the early adopter hubs would help inform the locations of the other YF hubs.
As we develop this Government Tracker we’re keen to hear your feedback. We’ll be keeping the Tracker up to date and adding more pledges in the coming months.
Progress displayed publicly—so every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister – 24 September 2024