FUNDING cuts have led to the closure of more than two-thirds of council-run youth centres in England and Wales since 2010, Unison research has found.

The loss of 1,243 facilities and the specialist workers who run them is creating a “lost generation” of young people, the union said, with teenagers left at greater risk of isolation, being swept into gang and knife culture, or taking part in anti-social activities on the streets as a result.

The data revealed more than four in 10 councils in England and Wales no longer operated their own youth centres by the end of 2023, with just 581 centres still in operation at the end of March last year.