The Skills and Training Audit 2025
The Youth Work Workforce Skills and Training Audit 2024 is the first comprehensive review of its kind in over a decade, covering both voluntary and statutory youth work sectors across Wales. Commissioned by Education Training Standards (ETS) Wales and delivered by Data Cymru, it gathered insights from over 500 individuals and 49 organisations. The findings reveal ongoing challenges with recruitment, retention, and qualification levels, particularly the urgent need for Youth Support Workers to achieve at least a Level 3 Certificate in Youth Work Practice by May 2025. Safeguarding confidence, leadership and management skills, and the ability to deliver youth work through the Welsh language also emerged as key development priorities.
The report highlights significant barriers to training access, including funding, time constraints, and a lack of relevant or Welsh-medium provision. There is a strong demand for professional learning in areas such as mental health support, working with vulnerable groups, and digital youth work. Organisations report that staffing shortages have affected service delivery, with many workers leaving for higher-paid roles outside the sector. The findings will directly shape a national training programme aimed at equipping the youth work workforce with the skills, qualifications, and confidence needed to meet the needs of young people across Wales, while also supporting the Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 language goals.
