Plans have been revealed to create a new organisation to succeed the British Youth Council (BYC), the 75-year-old youth participation charity that as forced to close last year due to financial challenges.

The plans for a National Youth Council have been revealed by the National Youth Agency, which took over BYC functions last year to ensure its work would continue, including its UK Youth Parliament and Youth Ambassador programme.

In its report What the Future Holds the National Youth Council would “act as a membership framework with clear benefits, such as subsidised training, discounted resources, and networking opportunities to enhance youth engagement”.

It also “underscores the UK's historical role as a leader in democratic youth participation as a founding member of the European Youth Forum, making the case for a strong national platform for youth representation, to ensure young people can contribute to domestic and international policy discussions which directly impact their lives”.

Recommendations include ensuring the National Youth Council has a youth-led executive board that is supported by an advisory expert board that represents all four nations of the UK.

It should have a UK wide membership structure, transparent fee structure and be funded through a mixture of grants, corporate partnerships, membership fees and government funding.

BYC’s international work through membership of the European Youth Forum and Commonwealth Youth Council would continue within the new organisation.

The report also calls for the new organisation to “create opportunities for young researchers and investigate youth engagement in constitutional democracy and their influence on devolved policy decisions”.

“This report marks a significant step forward in reimagining how a National Youth Council to the UK can unite our nation of nations and amplify, empower, support and resource effective youth voice and influence structures,” said Esther Horner-Aird, NYA’s strategic youth voice lead.

“The vision, endorsed by key bodies that can make it happen, is for a new and reinvigorated National Youth Council to the UK.

“This network will allow young voices from all backgrounds to be heard, enable key policies to be interrogated and to ensure that young people across the UK are central to policy development and scrutiny, as well as local decision-making, that affects them.”

A webinar takes place today (28 April) at 5-6pm on the recommendations made for the new organisation.

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