Youth clubs only guaranteed to get funding until June

Youth clubs and centres across Northern Ireland have only been assured of funding until June, according to a Department of Education (DE) official.

One MLA called the uncertainty "absolutely reckless."

It is also understood recruitment of youth workers has been frozen in a number of areas in Northern Ireland.

Those council areas include Antrim and Newtownabbey, Belfast, Derry City and Strabane, Mid Ulster and Causeway Coast and Glens.

Youth clubs and services often help young people in relatively disadvantaged areas with education and other skills.

Andrew Scott from the DE said they also help with young people's "emotional health and well-being, leadership, social skills and confidence".

"This work is more relevant than ever," he said.

Scott was answering questions from MLAs on Stormont's Education Committee.

The Education Authority's (EA) youth service oversees funding and management for youth centres and clubs across Northern Ireland.

But MLAs on the committee heard that funding was only guaranteed for the first financial quarter of 2026-27.

"The risk of insufficient funding presents a real and imminent risk across all education services," Scott said.

"We recognise the impact that budget uncertainty has on our youth sector.

"In an effort to provide stability in the short term the EA has provided assurances to the community and voluntary sector at risk that funding will be available for the first financial quarter.

Scott said that youth services played a crucial role, but money for them was "constrained".

The committee was told the money the EA received for youth services - about £37m a year - was no longer ring-fenced and could be used to meet other needs in education.

Committee chairman Alliance Party MLA Nick Mathison said there was a "real risk" that some youth clubs and centres "may not be with us on the other side of June".

"There is absolutely risk," Tomas Adell from the EA replied.

"I think that the risk that there's no funding to the community and voluntary sector, I can't see that happening.

"The question is what level of funding there will be available for that going forward."

There has previously been a warning that education faces "painful cuts" due to budget pressures.

A multi-year budget has not yet been agreed by the executive.

Sinn Féin MLA Danny Baker said the way youth services were being funded was "absolutely reckless."

"Youth funding will now be in direct competition with other pressures within the Education Authority," he said.

Baker also said the uncertainty amounted to "punishment of our young people".

He added that the current guarantee of funding for only three months of 2026-27 meant that many youth workers were looking for other employment.

"It is not the position that we want to be in," Scott replied.

He told Democratic Unionist Party MLA Peter Martin the draft budget brought "risk across all education services."

"I can't hand on heart say that youth services would be spared from that, it's risk right across the board," he said.

John Lynch, the CEO of Youthwork Alliance which represent more than 100 youth clubs across Northern Ireland, said these sort of decisions send the message that youth services "don't matter".

"Over the last 10 years, the constant message that our people are getting is 'we'll come to you whenever there's an issue, but we're not prepared to invest in you to keep you as part of the fabric of education'," he told Good Morning Ulster.