How Railway Children’s Youth Platform empowers young people to shape policy, influence British Transport Police, access lifechanging grants and support their peers.
Author: Lucy Carman | Date: 3rd March 2026
Through our flagship youth participation programme, Youth Platform, young people shape our training materials, influence key decisions and ensure the British Transport Police (BTP) and rail industry truly understand youth vulnerability.
Thanks to your support, their insight and lived experience have strengthened our work in powerful ways. Here are some of the inspiring achievements from the past year.
Youth Forums form a central part of Youth Platform, giving young people who have benefitted from our services a meaningful say in how we develop and deliver support.
Meeting every 6–8 weeks, forum members consistently contribute to key developments across Railway Children and the wider rail network.
Their impact includes:
This year, we hosted our first-ever Youth Forum Day, bringing together BTP, rail staff, inspiring speakers and young people for a transformative day of learning, connection and shared progress.
“I enjoyed being able to share opinions and talk to people like BTP.”
Delivered in partnership with British Transport Police, Operation Youth Voice places often-overlooked young voices at the forefront of system change.
Through guided conversations, workshops and lived-experience insights, young people helped:
The findings will directly shape how BTP trains officers, how rail staff approach vulnerable young people, and how the transport network becomes safer and more accessible for all children.
While youth practitioners offer day-to-day support in ways that work best for each young person, sometimes small but significant extras can make a huge difference.
That’s where the Youth Empowerment Fund comes in. Young people apply for one-off grants, which are reviewed and approved by our Youth Committee based on need and potential impact.
This year, grants supported requests including:
“The youth empowerment fund is a great way to help other young people who may be having a difficult time.”
Our Youth Platform offers a safe, empowering environment where young people can share their experiences, build knowledge and connect with others.
It’s an evolving digital community shaped by young voices — championing honesty, peer support and trusted information.
Youth participation is transforming how we understand and respond to vulnerability — and your support ensures young people remain at the centre of that change.
£250 could fund one Youth Forum, ensuring young people continue to guide, influence and improve our work.
More than 270 participants took on two iconic mountain challenges this summer, raising an incredible £252,546 to help vulnerable children in the UK, India and Tanzania.
More than 1,000 children learn vital skills at Leeds Station Safety Week. The flagship safety initiative – now in its 10th year – got under way at the station on Monday 15 June and runs to Friday 19 June during Rail Safety Week (15-21 June).
In a recent report, more than 40% of people said they wouldn’t know what to do if they spotted a child at risk at a train station. * That’s a statistic that Railway Children’s new interactive game, Seconds to Safety, is here to change.
Learn about safeguarding and how it relates to child protection on transport networks.
No child wants to survive on the streets. And, through understanding and empowerment, together, we can ensure no child has to.
Julia, 24, grew up as a boy but knew, early on, that the gender she’d been born into was not who she was. Here, she talks to Youth Platform about her journey, and what she wishes she’d know as a ten-year-old boy.
