MP Welcomes New Young Futures Hub For Rochdale

Rochdale will receive a new Young Futures Hub, bringing together support and opportunities for young people in the local community.

The new hub will bring together mental health support, employment and skills opportunities, sport, creative activities and crime prevention services.

Rochdale Council will also receive support through the Local Youth Transformation programme to strengthen leadership, train its workforce and build lasting local partnerships.

The new Young Futures Hub will provide young people in Rochdale aged 10 to 18 — and up to 25 for those with SEND — with access to seamless, holistic support.

Alongside open-access sport, creative activities and trusted youth workers, the hub will connect young people with mental health support, skills and training, routes into employment and crime prevention services.

The expansion forms part of the Government’s National Youth Strategy, Youth Matters, launched by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy in December, 2025, and co-produced with 14,000 young people through the State of the Nation survey.

The survey highlighted that many young people have been left without access to safe, supportive environments or a community to belong to, while reliance on online interaction has grown in the absence of face-to-face opportunities.

Youth Matters sets out an ambition to rebuild youth services over the next decade, backed by more than £500 million of government investment, while putting power back in the hands of local communities and giving young people a role in designing services around the skills, support and opportunities they need.

Paul Waugh, Labour and Co-operative MP for Rochdale, welcomed the announcement.

He said: “I’m delighted that Rochdale will be receiving a new Young Futures Hub. This is a really important investment in young people locally, and it means they will have better access to the support, opportunities and safe spaces they need to thrive.

“Despite years of austerity and deep cuts to council budgets, I’m proud that Rochdale Council worked hard to keep youth provision going when many other areas were losing theirs altogether.

“There is no getting away from the fact that a decade of funding cuts took its toll, and provision here declined despite everyone’s best efforts, but this new investment will help us turn that around.

“The new Young Futures Hub will bring together mental health support, skills and employment opportunities, sport, creative activities and crime prevention, making it easier for young people to get the right support in one place.

“I’m looking forward to working with Rochdale Council and local youth organisations to make sure the new hub delivers for young people across Rochdale, and that young people themselves have a say in how it develops.

“This is Labour delivering on our commitment to rebuild youth services and give young people in Rochdale the opportunities they deserve.”

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