The West London Inclusive Arts Festival (WLIAF) is celebrating its 10th anniversary, recognising a decade of championing access, creativity and collaboration for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The milestone will be marked with the festivals’ annual two-day celebration on Tuesday 19–Wednesday 20 May, where talented disabled young people from across west London will perform at the Royal Albert Hall – many for the very first time.   After ten years of positively impacting over 6,000 young people with SEND, WLIAF is using its celebration of young people’s achievements to encourage other cultural institutions across London and beyond to be actively more …Read full article

At 18, the support stops. For young people who are care-experienced, excluded from school, LGBT+, or living with learning disabilities, that moment can arrive across several systems at once. Since 2010, youth services have been cut by 76 to 80% in some parts of England. What remains is fragmented, short term, and organised around crisis rather than potential. Core Memories backs organisations that show up at the moment statutory support steps away. It starts with a different question. Not: what has gone wrong? But: what helps young people thrive? Research on Positive Childhood Experiences shows that access to a trusted …Read full article

For many years, the Charity’s grantmaking has been considered by the Grants Committee and approved by the Foundation Governors (the Trustee) at three meetings each year, held in March, June and November. Following a review of the Charity’s approval process, from 1 April 2026 John Lyon’s Charity will move to two committee meetings per year, held in June and November. This change is intended to streamline the grantmaking process and enable decisions to be made more efficiently throughout the year. Under the new approach, smaller grant requests will be considered and approved on a rolling basis, while larger grant requests …Read full article

Last week the government published its long-awaited white paper on reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system – a development closely watched by families, schools, voluntary organisations and funders across the country. At John Lyon’s Charity, we have seen first-hand the growing pressure on the current system. In our Beneficial Area alone, the number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has more than doubled in the past five years, reflecting rising levels of need and a system stretched beyond its capacity. Many of the organisations we fund, including those supporting families through assessments and appeals, know …Read full article

In anticipation of the Government’s new Youth Strategy, a New Report Shows How Place-Based Investment in Young People Delivers Long-Term Value  As the UK continues to face ongoing cost-of-living pressures, John Lyon’s Charity (JLC) launches a new report marking ten years of the pioneering Young People’s Foundations (YPFs) – a model that has helped protect vital youth services during a decade of rising demand and shrinking resources.  YPFs are borough-based infrastructure organisations that bring together organisations from the voluntary, private and public sectors to deliver collaborative work around children and youth services at a local level.   Ten years ago, JLC created the YPF model to act as a critical stabiliser, helping grassroots organisations survive …Read full article