We're campaigning for a happier, healthier generation.
Why now.
Young people's wellbeing is the lowest in Europe and lower than it was ten years ago. Mental health problems have risen sharply. These aren't problems young people can fix on their own. They are shaped by what happens in schools, online, in communities and in the jobs market, and by the decisions government makes.
People can see it. 86% of parents and 80% of young people say the government is not doing enough for young people's wellbeing, and only 31% of parents and 37% of young people are optimistic about young people's future in the UK (Savanta, 2026).
We want the government to accept and implement the six guarantees and every party to include them in their election manifestos.
How we built our guarantees.
Our guarantees aren't guesses. They are built on:
The evidence.
Decades of research on wellbeing from the Centre for Economic Performance and others, including what works and what it costs.
A national survey.
Run by Savanta with more than 1,000 young people and 1,000 parents across the UK.
Young people's voices.
Roundtables with young people aged 11 to 24, in schools and online, from Torbay to Manchester.
Expert challenge.
Six roundtables with more than 30 experts from charities, schools, local government, health and business, testing every idea.
The people behind the campaign.
Professor Lord Richard Layard is a co-founder of the Campaign for Youth Wellbeing. An economist who believes public policy should be targeted at people’s wellbeing, he is founder-Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE and co-Director of its Wellbeing research programme.
His books include Happiness: Lessons from a New Science (2005), translated into 20 languages, and the field-defining textbook Wellbeing: Science and Policy. He is a founding co-editor of the annual World Happiness Report and co-founded Action for Happiness and the World Wellbeing Movement.
A member of the House of Lords since 2000, he persuaded the government in 2007 to create the programme now known as NHS Talking Therapies, which treats 700,000 patients a year. In 2010 he influenced the UK government to measure wellbeing as a national statistic. His current work focuses on measuring value for money across public spending in terms of wellbeing.
Dan Lawes is the founding Director of the Campaign for Youth Wellbeing at the LSE Centre for Economic Performance, where he leads a campaign to put young people’s mental health and wellbeing at the centre of policy and public debate.
Previously, Dan was co-CEO of My Life My Say, equipping underrepresented young people with the tools and platforms to influence democratic decision-making. There, he coordinated Give An X, the UK’s largest youth voter registration campaign ahead of the 2024 General Election, uniting 300 organisations and brands including Tinder, Snapchat and Ben & Jerry’s, and reaching over 4 million 18–24 year olds. He also partnered with DCMS on the National Youth Strategy consultation, capturing the voices of more than 20,000 young people.
As a Manchester born campaigner, Dan is a Diana Award Legacy Recipient and winner of a National Democracy Award from the UK Cabinet Office.
Alastair Campbell is a co-founder of the Campaign for Youth Wellbeing. A writer and strategist, he is best known as Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. He now splits his time between writing, speaking, charitable fundraising, politics and campaigning.
A long-standing mental health campaigner, he was named Mind Champion of the Year in 2009 for his work to break down the stigma around mental illness.
Baroness Anne Longfield CBE is a board member of the Campaign for Youth Wellbeing. A leading champion for children, she has spent four decades shaping national debate and policy to improve the life chances of children, particularly the most vulnerable.
She was Children’s Commissioner for England from 2015 to 2021, and became a prominent advocate for children during the Covid pandemic. She went on to chair the Commission on Young Lives, whose proposals for protecting vulnerable teenagers were partly adopted by the Government, including Young Futures. In 2024 she founded the Centre for Young Lives, where she is Executive Chair.
Earlier in her career, she led a national children’s charity and helped develop the Sure Start programme in the No 10 Strategy Unit. She became a life peer in December 2024, and in December 2025 was appointed Chair of the Independent Statutory Inquiry into Grooming Gangs. Her book, Young Lives, Big Ambitions, was published in 2024.
Lord Gus O’Donnell GCB FBA is a co-founder of the Campaign for Youth Wellbeing. He served as Cabinet Secretary, the most senior official in the British Civil Service, from 2005 to 2011, working with four Prime Ministers and leading a civil service of 450,000 people.
An economist by training, he joined HM Treasury in 1979 after lecturing at the University of Glasgow, and went on to roles at the British Embassy in Washington, the IMF and the World Bank. He served as Press Secretary to the Prime Minister from 1990 to 1994 and as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2002 to 2005.
After leaving the civil service, he chaired the economics consultancy Frontier Economics until 2024, where he helped shape its work on behavioural economics for public and private sector decision-making.
Fozia Tanvir Irfan OBE is a distinguished civil society executive and philanthropy expert dedicated to driving systemic social change. As the former Director of Impact and Influence at BBC Children in Need, she successfully directed £50 million in annual funding to champion equitable grantmaking and youth advocacy across the UK. She is the founder of the pioneering DEI Coalition of Foundations and serves as the Chair of 360Giving, transforming data transparency within the charitable sector. An accomplished solicitor, Churchill Fellow, and author of Transformative Philanthropy, her leadership was recognized with an OBE for outstanding services to the community. Her career remains focused on embedding social justice, equity, and strategic impact into the heart of global philanthropy.
Lord Mark Price is an accomplished British businessman, life peer, and author renowned for his leadership in retail and workplace engagement. He spent over three decades at the John Lewis Partnership, culminating in a highly successful decade-long tenure as Managing Director of Waitrose. Transitioning to public service, he entered the House of Lords and served as the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment between 2016 and 2017. Driven by a passion for employee well-being, he later founded WorkL, a digital platform dedicated to measuring and improving workplace happiness globally. Today, he continues to champion healthier corporate cultures through his international business roles, public speaking, and published management books.
Andrew Haldane CBE FRS is a distinguished British economist currently serving as Chancellor of the University of Sheffield and President of the British Chambers of Commerce. He spent over three decades at the Bank of England, driving key monetary policy decisions during his tenure as the central bank’s Chief Economist. Beyond banking, he has shaped national strategy as the Permanent Secretary for the UK government's Levelling Up Taskforce and served as Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts. A dedicated advocate for social impact, he is the co-founder and President of the charity Pro Bono Economics and Vice-Chair of National Numeracy.
His ongoing insights reach global audiences through his work as a Contributing Editor for the Financial Times and a Professorial Fellow at Newcastle University's Institute of Devolution.
Recognised by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people, he continues to bridge the gap between economic policy, regional development, and civil society.
Dr Mark Williamson is co-founder and Director of Action for Happiness and has overall strategic and operational responsibility for the organisation. Mark has taken Action for Happiness from a concept on paper to a mass participation movement with hundreds of thousands of members and a wide range of activities. Mark has a long-standing interest in happiness and well-being and is passionate about creating a more balanced, collaborative society that focuses less on consumption and material wealth and more on helping people and communities thrive.
Since creating and launching Action for Happiness in 2011, Mark has engaged with a vast range of organisations, projects and people on the topics of happiness, wellbeing and resilience - including leading academics, major multi-national corporations, public sector organisations, policy makers, SMEs, schools, charities and community organisations. He has led the development of all Action for Happiness resources and activities and has spoken regularly on related topics at events and conferences across the UK and around the world. He hosted major events with The Dalai Lama (Patron of Action for Happiness) in 2015 and 2021.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve is a Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at Saïd Business School and Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. His pioneering research focuses on the study of human happiness, exploring its links to income, workplace productivity, and economic growth. He serves as an editor of the World Happiness Report and co-founded the World Wellbeing Movement to integrate wellbeing metrics into corporate and public policy. An advisor to governments and major global corporations, he recently guided the world's largest workplace wellbeing study in partnership with Indeed. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, was a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard, and serves as Vice-Principal of Harris Manchester College.
Kadra Abdinasir is the Associate Director for Policy at Centre for Mental Health. She leads the Centre’s policy work to drive mental health equality across the life course. She specialises in children and young people and oversees the team behind the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, a network of over 300 organisations, hosted by the Centre. Kadra has over a decade of experience working with young people in youth policy, research, and engagement. She is a Youth Board Member for mental health charity Beyond, a Trustee for FORWARD UK, Race on the Agenda and Mental Health Collective.
Elsa is the Events Manager for the Campaign for Youth Wellbeing at LSE. She creates and delivers high-impact events, campaigns and experiences that bring people together with a clear purpose. Her work spans the third sector, social impact, youth engagement, hospitality, community, the arts and creative industries, from large-scale public events and campaign launches to community programmes, networking events, fundraisers and bespoke experiences.
Kole Gjikolaj is the Insights and Engagement Coordinator for the Campaign for Youth Wellbeing at the LSE. He is a leading youth social and political activist, speaker and policy advisor from Torbay. His work focuses on advising organisations on youth and education policy, and is seen as a reliable commentator for both, appearing on BBC News, LBC and BBC Radio Two. Previously, Kole has held national advisory roles with Childnet International, Starlight Children's Foundation and the RSPCA. Most recently, Kole was recruited to partner with DCMS on the National Youth Strategy consultation, capturing the voices of more than 20,000 young people as a Youth Collaborator. Kole regularly attends parliamentary and corporate events on education and youth policy to present a dynamic youth perspective on engaging issues. He also shares his stories via keynote speech, speaking at top venues including the BT Tower and the QEII Centre. He is currently reading for a BSc in International Social and Public Policy with Politics at the LSE.
For 'outstanding contributions to civil society', Kole attended HM The King's Royal Garden Party in 2026.