The government has handed youth charities just £16.5m to secure their future and deliver support to young people amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

This comes despite calls on the government to honour a £500m commitment to youth organisations for funding.

The £16.5m Youth Covid-19 Support Fund emergency funding package is open to grassroots youth clubs, uniformed youth groups as well as national youth charities and umbrella organisations.

It aims to “mitigate the impact of lost income during the winter period due to the coronavirus pandemic and ensure services providing vital support can remain open”.

The money is part of the government’s £750m package of support to help charities amid the health crisis.

But this latest funding commitment is worth just 3% of a £500m package of support youth charities have been calling for.

Earlier this month a coalition of youth charities and voluntary sector umbrella bodies called on the government to honour a Conservative Party general election manifesto commitment to create a £500m Youth Investment Fund.

Their open letter to the government stated: “Many organisations were relying on this funding to invest in vital services to meet the increased needs of young people. Yet these same services are now on the brink of collapse.”

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said that it is “engaging with the youth sector as plans for the Youth Investment Fund develop and expect to publish further details in due course”.

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