YouthLink Scotland’s Youth Work Sector Survey 2025 provides a clear picture of the pressures, priorities and strengths across the youth work landscape. Responses from both the local authority and voluntary youth work sectors highlight a workforce committed to supporting young people while managing significant challenges.
The survey gathered views from organisations across local authority youth services, national voluntary organisations, and regional and community-based youth work providers, reflecting a broad mix of universal, targeted and issue-based practice.
Organisations reported that while most offer induction and ongoing training, there are still clear gaps that affect practice. Common areas where further training is needed include:
Many organisations noted that reduced national workforce development funding has made it harder to provide consistent, high-quality training.
Across both statutory and voluntary they highlighted shared priorities for the year ahead:
Other priorities included community safety, outdoor learning, digital participation, and specialist targeted support.
Feedback from the sector shows strong support for YouthLink Scotland’s role. Organisations noted that YouthLink Scotland:
Additional requests included:
The survey shows a sector that is skilled and committed, but working under increasing pressure. Youth workers across both local authority and voluntary settings are supporting young people with more complex needs while facing financial and workforce constraints.
The findings point to clear priorities for the year ahead:
supporting mental health and wellbeing, strengthening rights and participation, improving workforce capacity, and securing stable funding.
They reaffirm the importance of YouthLink Scotland’s national role in providing coordination, training, research, guidance and a collective voice for youth work in Scotland.