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The Chancellor of the Exchequer named 14 uniformed youth groups that will benefit from the £10 million Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund. 

The Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund aims to get more young people involved in social action through uniformed groups. The winners were announced after a competitive grant process that aimed to create 15,000 more places for young people to join uniformed youth groups across the UK.

This project is funded through LIBOR fines which were raised from banks for misdemeanours and attempted manipulation of the financial markets. This latest funding from the LIBOR fines pot builds on almost £150 million which has already gone to support the armed forces community, military charities and other good causes.

The Youth United Network will distribute the funding to 14 organisations:

• Catholic Guides of Ireland Northern Region
• Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade
• Combined Cadet Force Association
• Fire Cadets
• Girlguiding
• Jewish Lads’ & Girls’ Brigade
• Marine Society & Sea Cadets
• Reserve Forces and Cadets Association (RFCA)/Army Cadet Force (ACF)/Air Cadets
• St John Ambulance
• The Boys’ Brigade
• The Girls’ Brigade England and Wales
• The Scout Association
• Volunteer Police Cadets
• Woodcraft Folk

Through the funding, these organisations will encourage young people living in disadvantaged areas or hard to reach communities to get involved in social action by joining uniformed youth organisations.

This supports the Step Up To Serve campaign which aims to double the number of young people involved in social action by 2020.

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:

I am delighted that we are using LIBOR fines to improve the lives of thousands of young people, by supporting these good causes. It is right that money paid in fines by people who demonstrated the worst of the values in our society is now being used to support those who demonstrate the very best and bring about a positive change.

Brooks Newmark, Minister for Civil Society said:

The Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund is an excellent example of how the Cabinet Office is using money collected through LIBOR fines to increase social action across the UK. All recipients are well placed to provide young people with more opportunities to work on social action activities in their local area. This scheme will help to build a generation of young people with raised aspirations and greater prospects for their future.

Rosie Thomas, Director of Youth United Foundation said:

We are delighted to announce this allocation of funding to a number of fantastic uniformed groups which carry out grassroots social action all over the country and have a track record of unlocking potential in young people. These grants will enable them to attract more young members, particularly in deprived areas, who in turn will benefit from the experiences, skills and confidence they gain as part of a uniformed group.

A second funding round, to help uniformed youth groups pilot new and innovative approaches to reach deprived communities and hard to reach groups, will be launched in the autumn