Government plans massive rollout of National Citizen Service 3

Finance | Tania Mason | 6 Oct 2011

The government’s flagship volunteering programme for 16-year-olds, National Citizen Service, is to grow nine-fold by 2014 to provide 90,000 places.

Following the first pilot this summer where 10,000 positions were offered, up to 30,000 places will be offered next year and 90,000 by 2014.

The government gave no indication of budget for the scheme by 2014, but given that funding was £13m this year and is due to reach £37m next year, 90,000 places are likely to cost somewhere in the region of £100m. A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: “This commitment is fully funded through the Spending Review. However, we expect that the cost per head will be reduced with scale and development through the pilot stages.”

Critics within civil society

The announcement, by Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday at the Conservative Conference, comes despite the fact that a quarter of places on offer this year were not filled and that the scheme has attracted some disapproval from within the voluntary sector. Critics have pointed out that a position in the Scouts costs £600 for a whole year, while NCS costs almost double that for just six weeks.

And youth volunteering charity Sea Cadets has complained that NCS doesn’t deliver the slow-burn approach that uniformed volunteering, such as his charity or the Scouts offers. It claims that engaging at 16 years of age is too late, and six weeks is too short.

In response to the NCS rollout, Kevin Curley, CEO of Navca, said: "Navca supports the NCS. But local volunteer centres and youth volunteering projects are suffering badly from both local authority cuts and cuts to 'v' programmes. Most local voluntary sector leaders think that more young people will be drawn into long-term social action in their communities through permanent local projects than through participation in a short-burst national scheme. And that's Navca's view too."

NCS brings people together, says government

The government says NCS brings together young people from different backgrounds and gives them the opportunity to take on new challenges, learn new skills and make a difference in their communities.

Nick Hurd, minister for civil society, said: “I’ve met so many young people who completely changed their outlook on life during this year’s National Citizen Service.”

Tim Loughton, minister for children and young people, added: "NCS is not just about volunteering, it's about personal development, mixing, community engagement, transition to adulthood and rites of passage. The young people I met at the pilots running this summer, from a wide range of social backgrounds, were really enthusiastic about the project. Many said they would recommend NCS to their friends and wanted to return to support NCS as volunteers in future years."

Evaluation of this year’s pilot is currently underway and the results will inform the future model for NCS. According to the Challenge Network, which was the largest provider of the scheme this year, more than 15,000 young people expressed interest for 3,200 places; attendance was nearly 100 per cent and retention 95 per cent throughout the full-time stages of the programme; and there was a diverse mix of participants.

Who's Who: Nick Hurd

Place a comment

David
6 Oct 2011

I am pleased that the Government is supportive of volunteering and seems to see it as a critical element of developing tomorrow’s citizens and giving people skills for life. I do have to agree with other comments about value for money in creating this national service. Has any research been done to determine if this is the best use of money to achieve the goals? Why do most governments insist on creating something new when often there is already something in place? Is that value for money?

So much resource will be poured into this new initiative which will draw limited funds away from charities thereby reducing the legacy of volunteering that the UK has built over several generations. I know part of it is a political game to be seen as an active government getting stuff done and creating something new and all the news that goes with it is much “sexier” than simply making more funds available to charity.

But I would ask our Government to be a little braver and do what is right and in the best interest for the people of the UK rather than simply always playing the political game for votes or to be seen (I know you have to play it sometimes as it goes with being in politics I am just asking for a brief moment of pluck which may not get votes but is right).

Why are the ideas discussed around volunteering within government sound like something new? Charities have quietly been going about this kind of work for generations. I am no expert but would think that creating funding arrangements so charities can access them to improve their services would go further to improve the lives of the people of the UK.

Why not spend the infrastructural money they would use on starting something new to run a local meals-on-wheels service, a befriending service, a youth club, a sports club, etc. Why not just support existing volunteering organisations anyway? Improve the funding opportunities to the charities and they will increase their services and thereby increase the opportunities and support / development for volunteering. Seems rather straightforward.

[Reply]

Wynbert
6 Oct 2011

You really should take care to point out that this scheme operates only in England. Nick Hurd (thank goodness) holds no remit for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

[Reply]

Bryn Price
Director
Kent People's Trust
6 Oct 2011

Once again we have promise to expand a scheme that has not been reviewed, let alone benchmarked against other projects.

The National Audit Office review of youth programmes in 2009 showed that results could be achieved with far less funding, and with effective long term results.

I thought that we were promised more responsible financial management. Now the public sector is told to make cuts and the government promises to spend more without evaluating costs or benefits.

[Reply]

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.