Commission Youth Futures

Don't buy an activity. Commission an outcome.

Youth Futures Partnership works with organisations that want to create stronger opportunities for young people, respond to local harm or disengagement, and test practical prevention approaches. We can help shape a response around the place, people and outcomes you are trying to influence.

Who could commission us?

Built for cross-sector commissioning.

Youth Futures can work across organisational boundaries because the issues affecting young people rarely belong neatly to one service.

🏛️

Local Authorities

Youth services, public health, community safety, early help, regeneration and place-based prevention.

🏫

Schools & MATs

Targeted engagement, enrichment, careers, transition, prevention and alternative approaches for particular cohorts.

🛡️

Community Safety & PCCs

Place-based interventions around antisocial behaviour, exploitation, violence, substance harm and community confidence.

🏘️

Housing & Communities

Positive youth engagement, estate-based provision and programmes designed around specific neighbourhood needs.

❤️

Public Health

Early intervention around alcohol, vaping and other behaviours where engaging prevention is needed alongside information.

💼

Employers

Skills outreach, social value programmes, local talent pipelines and meaningful youth engagement.

🤝

Charities & Foundations

Fund or jointly deliver targeted pilots that address an identified gap in opportunity or prevention.

📍

Place Partnerships

Bring multiple funders and agencies together around a shared neighbourhood or population outcome.

What could be commissioned?

From a targeted session to a place-based pilot.

🚌

Mobile Youth Provision

Deploy themed mobile hubs such as esports, construction, creative, salon or technology provision into communities and targeted locations.

📍

Hotspot Intervention

Develop a targeted response around a location experiencing repeated concerns, combining local insight, youth engagement and practical activity.

🎯

Targeted Cohort Programme

Design provision for a defined group of young people around engagement, prevention, skills, confidence or progression.

🗣️

Youth Consultation & Co-design

Engage young people directly to understand local experience and help shape services, places, programmes or investment.

🛠️

Skills & Progression Programme

Combine practical tasters, employers, Career Passport evidence, mentoring and routes into further training or work.

🧪

Innovation Pilot

Co-design and test a new youth engagement or prevention model, with agreed measures and learning built in from the start.

How commissioning works

We don't start with a price list of activities.

The first conversation should establish what you are trying to achieve. From there, Youth Futures can develop a proportionate proposal.

1

Brief

Tell us about the location, cohort, concern, opportunity gap and intended outcome.

2

Discovery

Review available insight, existing provision and the views of relevant partners and young people.

3

Design

Agree the delivery model, safeguarding, partners, timescale, progression and measures.

4

Deliver

Mobilise the programme with clear ownership, communications and operational arrangements.

5

Evaluate

Report what happened, what was learned and what should be continued, changed or scaled.

Commissioning models

Different problems need different levels of intervention.

These are illustrative models rather than fixed commercial packages. Scope, duration and cost would depend on the programme.

Focused

Targeted Programme

A defined activity or intervention for a specific group, school, location or outcome.

  • Clear cohort or location
  • Defined delivery period
  • Agreed activity
  • Basic outcome reporting
Strategic

Place Partnership

A longer-term approach bringing multiple interventions and partners together around a community or shared outcome.

  • Local intelligence
  • Portfolio of interventions
  • Shared governance
  • Impact framework
  • Scale and sustainability planning

Procurement shouldn't kill innovation.

Youth Futures wants to make commissioning straightforward enough to support creative approaches while still providing the governance, safeguarding, clarity and evidence public and charitable funding requires.

Before delivery

Make the commercial side clear.

A formal proposal should set out exactly what is being commissioned rather than relying on attractive concepts.

  • scope and intended outcomes;
  • roles and responsibilities;
  • delivery locations and timetable;
  • staffing and partner arrangements;
  • safeguarding and risk management;
  • data protection and information governance;
  • costs and payment terms;
  • measurement and reporting; and
  • what happens when the commissioned period ends.
Commissioner assurance

Creative delivery still needs grown-up governance.

Safeguarding

Clear safeguarding arrangements, safer recruitment and escalation routes appropriate to each programme.

Risk & Safety

Activity, venue, equipment and mobile-delivery risks assessed and managed proportionately.

Data & Privacy

Defined purposes for personal data, appropriate controls and clear information-sharing arrangements.

Evidence

Agreed outputs and outcomes, transparent reporting and no pretending correlation automatically proves causation.

Website note: before actively taking commissions, replace this note with confirmed organisational details such as insurance, safeguarding contacts, policies, registration/company information, procurement documentation and any relevant accreditations.
Start a commissioning conversation

Tell us the challenge — not the solution.

Send us the place, group or outcome you're thinking about. We can explore whether Youth Futures is the right fit and what a proportionate pilot or programme might look like.