The needs of young people are being ignored
The recent election saw the second lowest overall turn out in history (60 per cent) and it is likely that this figure was lower still among young people. The 2024 election campaigns hardly featured the needs of young people. The policy (supposedly) for young people picked up by the media was the Conservative compulsory “national service” – spent either in the military of volunteering in “civil resilience”. Neither major party’s manifesto had much to say about the challenges young people are facing – this contrasts starkly with the 2019 election where Labour put forward a Youth Manifesto (and young voter turnout was high).
Yet in 2024 the challenges are numerous: housing, precarious work, rising costs and increasing violence (to name a few). Centrepoint estimates that 135,800 young people in the UK approached their council for help as they were homeless or at risk of homelessness during 2022/23. The number of young people aged 16-24 not in education, employment or training has increased this year.
Initial findings from the REACH study suggest young people are really struggling. Over a third of young renters in the cohort are worried about paying the rent. We also asked the young people how they were managing financially: almost half said they were finding it difficult or were “just about getting by”.
This comes off the back of recent upheavals that have especially affected young people. Educational progress was greatly impacted by the pandemic. School closures disrupted the lives of low-income pupils compared with high income students–with poorer students in self-isolation being less likely to have effective learning resources at home.
These numbers underscore the critical oversight in political priorities, as young people’s primary needs are left unmet.
This is having a devastating effect on young people’s mental health
The cumulative effect of these challenges significantly impacts young people's mental health. Findings from REACH show strong evidence that mental distress increased among young people who were most negatively impacted by COVID-19, and the related social restrictions – for example, those facing financial, housing and social support difficulties. We also found that housing instability amongst young people in REACH was associated with increased mental distress (forthcoming publication).
Disengagement and the increasing social gap
Given the clear gap between young people’s experience of the world today, and what the political system is offering, perhaps it’s unsurprising that young people are disengaged from the political process. While the 2024 REACH survey shows that a large proportion of young people are actively engaged in politics and the news, 23 per cent of young people who have responded had never discussed politics or problems in society with good friends, and almost 60 per cent had little to no interest in societal issues and politics.[1]
The picture is more concerning when we examine how this differs by household income levels (as indicated by the receipt of free school meals). In 2024, 13 per cent more students who were on free school meals while at school had little to no interest in politics than those who were not on free school meals. This gap has increased by 6 per cent since the 2019 study. Similarly, The Conversation report an impact of family education on political engagement: interest among those from less educated families declined between ages 11 and 15, and by age 15 those with less educated families were 10 per cent less interested in politics than those from more educated families.
Youth disengagement is reflected in how many vote: Voter turnout for young people is low–particularly those from poorer backgrounds, with fewer educational qualifications. This year– younger voters were pushed to voting for smaller parties, or apathy. When asked about voting in the election, one of the REACH Young Person Community Champions said: