Where the young people are, what councils spend on them, and where the Sea Cadet units are
The census counted every young person in England and Wales, place by place. Councils in England tell the Department for Education each year what they spend on services for young people. The Sea Cadets publish where their units are. This puts the three side by side.
This is a map, not a unit, and nobody here can sign you up. Find the nearest unit under Find a unit and ask it directly — each has its own page on the Sea Cadets’ website with its nights and how to start.
6,303,190young people aged 10 to 18 in England and Wales
Counted by the 2021 census: the ages Sea Cadets takes.
162 of 174areas where a Sea Cadet unit shows
Counties and unitary authorities where a unit gives an address, or a unit charity records working there.
96.3%of young people aged 10 to 18 live in an area with a unit
Counted by the census, area by area.
-52.4%real-terms change in council spending on open-access youth services in England since 2015-16
From £317.4m to £151.1m, in 2024-25 prices.
What councils in England spend on young people
Net spending on services for young people, each year the Department for Education’s current figures cover, cash and in 2024-25 prices.
| Year | Cash | In 2024-25 prices |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | £462.2m | £619.7m |
| 2016-17 | £387.6m | £509.5m |
| 2017-18 | £352.4m | £457.4m |
| 2018-19 | £335.1m | £425.3m |
| 2019-20 | £310.3m | £383.8m |
| 2020-21 | £323.4m | £380.0m |
| 2021-22 | £341.0m | £399.7m |
| 2022-23 | £368.0m | £403.1m |
| 2023-24 | £394.3m | £410.3m |
| 2024-25 | £374.0m | £374.0m |
Over those years it fell from £619.7m to £374.0m in 2024-25 prices: -39.7%, and 113 of the 146 councils that can be compared spent less. Most of the fall is in open-access services — the ones any young person can walk into — from £317.4m to £151.1m (-52.4%). Targeted services went from £302.3m to £222.9m (-26.3%).
The Sea Cadets say: “the widening gap between rich and poor is seeing huge numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds being shut out of opportunities because they cost too much”. A unit shows in 31 of the 31 most deprived areas of England. The figures here cannot say who joins, or what it costs them.
Councils file the same youth work under different headings, so one council’s figure can move because the work moved; the totals for England are steadier than any single council. The figures are council spending only, and begin in 2015-16.
Where the Sea Cadet units are
England’s counties and unitary authorities, split into five equal groups by the published measure of deprivation — the share of each area’s neighbourhoods in the most deprived tenth nationally.
| Deprivation | Areas | A Sea Cadet unit shows | Real-terms change in services for young people since 2015-16 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Least deprived fifth | 30 | 28 of 30 | -41.2% |
| Second | 30 | 26 of 30 | -39.2% |
| Middle | 31 | 31 of 31 | -19.5% |
| Fourth | 30 | 29 of 30 | -48.0% |
| Most deprived fifth | 31 | 31 of 31 | -39.1% |
There is no steady pattern with deprivation. Comparing the two ends: one is present in 31 of the 31 most deprived areas and 28 of the 30 least deprived. That is a finding about where Sea Cadet units are, not about how much help anybody gets.
By kind of council
Every county and unitary authority, by the kind of council it is. London boroughs and metropolitan boroughs are the big cities and their conurbations; counties are mostly rural and small-town England; the unitary councils are a mix, many of them cities.
| Kind of council | Areas | A Sea Cadet unit shows | Share of young people aged 10 to 18 living where one shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| London boroughs | 33 | 28 of 33 | 83.0% |
| Metropolitan boroughs | 36 | 36 of 36 | 100.0% |
| Unitary councils in England | 59 | 57 of 59 | 99.1% |
| Counties | 24 | 24 of 24 | 100.0% |
| Welsh councils | 22 | 17 of 22 | 81.9% |
See the areas where no unit shows, and what that does not mean →
The units themselves
The Sea Cadets’ finder lists 385 units: 311 in England, 21 in Wales, 34 in Scotland and 11 in Northern Ireland, by the postcode each gives. 294 charities on the register for England and Wales stand behind the units there. The typical one — the median — reported income of £18,612 in its latest accounts.
What this is for
Two readers, and they want different things.
- A young person, or a parent. The finder is here to find the nearest unit, with each one’s own page.
- Somebody arguing about opportunities for young people. This is the spending councils report, set beside the only complete count of young people there is and the units that are still there, council by council.
This was built without asking you, from information you and others already publish, to show what is possible rather than to speak for you. If you would rather it came down, say so and it comes down, and you do not have to give a reason. If you would rather it were built properly — with your own figures for the cadets each one works with — that is the more interesting conversation.