The government has announced the creation of 42 new Young Futures Hubs across England and has named Barking and Dagenham, Camden, Hackney and Waltham Forest among participating London authorities. The hubs are designed to serve ages 10-18, or up to 25 for young people with SEND, combining mental-health support, skills and training, employment routes, youth work, sport and creative activities. Separately, a £22.5m Enrichment Expansion Programme is reported to support more than 400 disadvantaged secondary schools. The government says £70m will be distributed between 2026-27 and 2028-29, with up to £300,000 per hub per year for operation.
Why this matters
The expansion of Young Futures Hubs and the Enrichment Expansion Programme focuses resources on children and young people in areas of need. Services that aim to combine mental-health support with educational and vocational opportunities are intended to provide joined-up offers that move beyond traditional school-based provision. For communities in named London boroughs, the hub model is presented as a way to coordinate local youth work, sport and creative activities alongside routes towards training and employment.
The number of hubs and the scale of the school programme reflect a policy emphasis on targeted support rather than universal provision. The figures published for hub funding and the school programme indicate an expectation of sustained investment over multiple years. The shape and reach of the offers created under these programmes will determine how families and young people experience them in practice.
Who is affected
The Young Futures Hubs are intended to serve children and young people aged 10-18. The age range extends to up to 25 for young people with SEND. This design widens the period of support beyond compulsory schooling for some young people, and the inclusion of employment routes and skills training signals an emphasis on transition to further education and work.
The Enrichment Expansion Programme is described as supporting more than 400 disadvantaged secondary schools. That measure targets schools serving pupils from lower-income backgrounds or areas with greater needs, where enrichment activities are often less available. Local authorities named among participating London areas—Barking and Dagenham, Camden, Hackney and Waltham Forest—can expect to be among those implementing hub provision for their children and young people.
Implementation and context
The government says £70m will be distributed between 2026-27 and 2028-29 to support the operation of the hubs, with up to £300,000 per hub per year available. That funding envelope sets a limit on the resources each hub may be allocated for its running costs and programme delivery. The operational funding is intended to cover the range of activities described, from mental-health support to sport and creative work, alongside skills and employment support.
The separate £22.5m Enrichment Expansion Programme is presented as a distinct intervention with its own aims to extend enrichment provision in disadvantaged secondary schools. Both streams indicate a strategy that combines direct youth-facing services with investment in school-based opportunities for pupils who may otherwise have limited access to extracurricular activities.
Limits and next steps
These measures are presented as planned support and set out financial envelopes and age ranges rather than reporting on completed outcomes. Local delivery arrangements, staffing, referral pathways and partnership working will determine how the hubs operate on the ground and how schools use enrichment funding. The announced funding period for the hubs covers three financial years, and allocations are described as available per hub per year up to a stated maximum.
The announcements state planned support and should not be used to claim already-achieved outcomes. Further information on implementation, local launch timetables and the detailed arrangements for distributing the Enrichment Expansion Programme funding will need to be published before the full effect of the measures can be assessed.
