Skip to main content

Welcome to our new website. You may still see some pages from our old site as we move things over.

What we'll fund

The activities we fund

We'll fund extra hours of youth work.

By 'youth work' we mean an activity that improves young people's well-being through education or leisure, supported by a voluntary relationship with a trusted adult.

The extra hours of youth work must help young people to:

  • have improved emotional wellbeing
  • have improved life and practical skills
  • feel safer and have access to trusted relationships with adults

These extra hours could be used for things like learning, arts, and playing sports. Or for activities like mentoring, and developing social or life skills.

We can only fund eligible areas

We can only fund certain eligible ward areas across England. The eligible wards are based on the local youth population and levels of anti-social behaviour recorded by the police.

You can only apply if your work either:

  • is in an eligible ward area
  • will benefit young people living in one or more eligible ward areas

We’ll ask you for the name and code number of any wards where your work will take place in the application form.

If your activity is not in an eligible area, but young people who live in an eligible ward will come, give us the details of that ward instead. For example, if you use a venue in another area. Or if you use community spaces like cafes or parks (sometimes called ‘detached’ youth work).

The eligible wards are updated for 2025, based on the latest anti-social behaviour police data. So you must check if your ward is eligible even if you’ve had Million Hours funding before.

See how to check the eligible ward areas for the Million Hours Fund (2025 to 2027).

Criteria for funding

The work you want us to fund must meet all of the following criteria.

You must work with young people at risk of taking part in anti-social behaviour

Specifically young people aged 10 to 18, or up to 25 if they have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).

If you apply, we’ll ask you to tell us about the issues with anti-social behaviour in your area. And about how you’ll provide activities and support for young people most at risk.

You must deliver more hours of youth work than you do now

You can deliver new activities, or do more of what you already do.

For example, if you already run an activity on a Wednesday night you could use this funding to run it on a Thursday night too.

In your application we’ll ask you to tell us how many extra hours of youth work you’ll deliver. We’ll also ask when you’ll do it, and how many young people will take part per hour.

For help working out your extra hours of youth work for the Million Hours Fund, see how to work out the numbers we need.

You should involve young people in deciding how your project works

We want to know how you’ll make sure young people have a voice in the work we fund. We’ll prioritise applications from organisations that do this well.

By this we mean:

  • young people having a say in what activities you do and how they’re run
  • seeking feedback from young people and using it to improve things
  • having opportunities for young people to support their peers
  • involving young people in how your organisation runs – like helping you plan your work, or joining the board

Your work must be open to as wide a range of young people as possible

This is sometimes known as ‘open access’ youth work. For example, young people should be able to:

  • come or go from sessions without telling you in advance
  • attend without committing to coming regularly or over a long period
  • take part without paying high entry fees
  • take part without having an existing level of skill
  • take part without following a particular religion or set of beliefs
  • access the venue or location you use easily

Easy access to venues includes physical access, such as access for people with disabilities. It also includes practical issues. For example, running activities in a school during the school day may mean only existing pupils can attend.

Your work must be run by trusted adults

These might be qualified youth workers or youth support workers, or experienced volunteers.

They must know how you keep people safe, respond to safeguarding incidents and promote a culture of safeguarding within your organisation.

You’ll have to meet our safeguarding expectations for organisations we fund.

What we will not fund

We will not fund:

  • youth work outside one of the eligible ward areas and with no young people from eligible areas attending
  • youth work for young people under 10 or over 18 (or 25 if they have SEND)
  • projects that do not deliver extra hours of youth work
  • youth work that is not ‘open access’
  • trips away or residentials for young people
  • work to deal with anti-social incidents directly, rather than supporting young people in areas with higher rates of anti-social behaviour