East Sussex Youth Cabinet

The Youth Cabinet members are young people aged 11 to 18. They are elected to represent the views of young people in East Sussex.

The Youth Cabinet runs co-produced campaigns. These are the top issues highlighted in the annual #makeyourmark ballot. The Youth Cabinet leads collaboration with other youth voice groups and hosts events. They work with local leaders to bring about change and improve services.

The Youth Cabinet offers a monthly consultation slot for professionals and decision-makers. They talk to them about their work and gain feedback from young people. To book a slot, please email the Participation Team.

#EastSusssexYouthVoice Groups

The Youth Cabinet works closely with:

How Youth Cabinet works:

Members of the Youth Cabinet gather the views of young people through:

Surveys
Workshops
Events
Creative consultation

They communicate these views to decision-makers and work with leaders to create change. They do this to improve young people’s lives and the communities around them.

Members work in partnership with our Children and Young People’s Trust Partners:

NHS organisations and the Integrated Care System
Police
East Sussex Fire and Rescue
Schools and settings
District and Borough Councils
Government departments
East Sussex County Council services – libraries, transport, school improvement and early help
Businesses - nurseries, museums, galleries
Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise organisations.

Projects and campaigns:

Recently, the Youth Cabinet has worked on projects and campaigns that include:

Health and Wellbeing
Jobs and the economy

Tackling domestic violence
Environment, climate change and sustainability
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Knife crime prevention
Addressing race equality
Improving transport

As a result of the campaigns, we:

Developed surveys and events that highlight young people's views and lived experiences
Informed the refresh of the Children and Young People's Plan
Informed the Sussex Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing strategy
Informed the Children’s Services climate change strategy
Helped to develop the Schools Race Equality Guidance
Launched Top Ten Tips on Mental Health for parents and teachers
Helped to develop and launch the 3-iD Card

Working together as East Sussex:

The Youth Cabinet works with voluntary, community, and public sector partners. It brings young people together to collaborate with leaders on key issues.

The Children's Services Department produces a Youth Voice newsletter twice per year to highlight the work of these groups.

You can read:

Autumn and Winter Newsletter 2024-2025 [16.4 MB] [pdf]

Support for Children and Young People's Voice:

The Equality, Participation, and Strategic Partnerships team supports the Youth Cabinet.

Participation colleagues within this team at East Sussex County Council are:

Atiya Gourlay: Lead - Equality, Participation and Strategic Partnerships
Nic Bryson: Lead – Children and Young People’s Participation
Aisling Page: Senior Business Administrator
Freya Arbenz: Business Administrator Apprentice

Email the Participation Team

Youth Cabinet elections and members:

There is one student place in the Youth Cabinet for every school and college in East Sussex. This includes all mainstream, Academy, SEND, and Independent Schools. To become a Youth Cabinet member, your peers in school and college must elect you.

If you would like to get involved and you are in another type of setting:

Email the Participation Team.

The Youth Cabinet term-of-office runs from March every two years. The Youth Cabinet was newly elected in January 2024.

Current Youth Cabinet members are:

for Eastbourne:

Mabel Young
Farah Ahmed
Ossian McAleece
Akeelah Matope

For Hastings and Bexhill:

Ethan Seale
Henry Kicinski-Mason
Todd Burton

For Lewes and Coastal:

Shiv Sheth
Edith Bryan
Lola Grover

For Wealden:

Toby Clark
Maya Arno
Martha Crompton

For Seaford:

Pelagia Lowe
Isla Hoch

Current members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYPs) are:

Eastbourne and Coastal:

Mabel Young

Bexhill, Hastings and Upper Rother:

Henry Kicinski-Mason

Lewes and Wealden:

Martha Crompton

Email participation.team@eastsussex.gov.uk if you would like to get in touch with a youth cabinet member.

UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) elections and members:

East Sussex elects three members of the UKYP each year. This takes place through an internal vote within the Youth Cabinet.

Current members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYPs) are:

Eastbourne and Coastal:

Mabel Young

Bexhill, Hastings, and Upper Rother:

Henry Kicinski-Mason

Lewes and Wealden:

Martha Crompton

Email the Participation Team if you wish to contact one of the UKYP members.

Current campaigns:

Health and Wellbeing

In spring 2024, over 6,000 East Sussex Young People voted in the Make Your Mark ballot. They selected Health and Wellbeing as their top priority. The East Sussex Youth Cabinet will be campaigning on this issue on behalf of their peers for the next two years.

So far this year, they plan to:

User test online support for young people who need to access help with their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Host a Mental Health conference for Year 7 pupils across the county.
Record podcast episodes where they speak with professionals and services who work with children and young people to improve their health and wellbeing.

As well as this, they have recently carried out a consultation with other youth voice groups across the county. They have started to inform how to shape the rest of the work this year on their campaign. At their next meeting, they will begin to create campaign plans based on their suggestions and priorities.

Employment and the Economy

The second most popular issue in the Make Your Mark vote was Jobs and the Economy. Youth Cabinet members will also campaign on this issue on behalf of their peers in East Sussex.

So far this year, they plan to:

Record podcast episodes where they will speak to services supporting young people with apprenticeships, work experience, and employment.
Help to promote and produce PSHE resources for schools across the county.

They have also:

Consulted with other youth voice groups to inform their campaign work. They know that it is based on the priorities of groups that represent other young people in East Sussex.
Hosted an event to bring together youth voice groups from across East Sussex (who then received employability training.)

Youth Voice Hopes and Values

We have developed an East Sussex Youth Voice Hopes and Values message, which has been co-produced with young people from youth voice groups in East Sussex during recent joint meetings. Young people’s feedback and recommendations have been consolidated into four key statements which cover themes of Kindness, Courage, Commonality, and Inclusivity, with the hope that it will help other partners reflect on how they carry out their consultations, evaluations, designs, and delivery when they do this alongside other young people in East Sussex.