Challenge Network chief executive Craig Morley has said Nat Wei, the government's former Big Society adviser and one of the charity's founders, had no influence over its recent £7.1m grant from the Cabinet Office.

Morley told civilsociety.co.uk that Lord Wei has had no involvement with the charity for the past three and a half years, and stepped down from his position with the Challenge Network when he took the role within government.

Commenting on its recent grant, Morley said: “We had already received a one-year grant from the coalition government which gave us a track record. Nine out of ten parents recommend us. We have been successful again this year.

“Nat Wei has had no involvement in the charity for three and a half years. It has had no bearing on our recent grant. Nor should it have.”

It was revealed last month that the Challenge Network is to receive a grant from the Cabinet Office which is seven times its 2010 income. It is the biggest grant the Cabinet Office is handing out this year, and it will fund the charity to deliver parts of the government’s National Citizen Service scheme.

Much clearer understanding from MPs

In an interview with civilsociety.co.uk, Morley also addressed previous criticism from MPs on the charity’s connections with Lord Wei. In 2010, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office Liam Byrne accused the government of favouring charities with links to the Conservative Party when giving out funding, including the Challenge Network in his attack. Former shadow minister for civil society Roberta Blackman-Woods had also levelled criticism at the government's funding of the Challenge Network.

Morley said that now there was a much clearer understanding of what the charity did. And he said he had recently met with the current shadow charities minister, Gareth Thomas.

Challenge Network 'a community charity'

Challenge Network describes itself as a community charity striving to build stronger communities by bridging the divide in a practical way.

“National Citizen Service is part of that,” says Morley.

The charity currently has two parts, the Challenge which delivers National Citizen Service, and the Challenge Society which offers permanent community-based schemes.

Morley says a key part of the charity’s aim is to prevent segregation and divide in communities: “Levels of trust and a sense of belonging is going down,” said Morley. “We are trying to improve quality of life by bringing people together.

“Young people who attend our National Citizen Service programmes work with the elderly, the homeless, mums and toddler groups, business people.

“This is a programme of young people working with different groups they may have not encountered before.”

Half of graduates volunteer full-time 

Over half of the 3,000 graduates who took part in National Citizen Service with the Challenge Network last year, have gone on to become actively involved in the Challenge Society, its permanent community-based scheme.

“It’s important that summer is just the start,” says Morley, “Seventy per cent of people on our schemes have never done this before.”

Charge for National Citizen Service

Morley also defended charging young people to take part in the NCS scheme. Some providers are charging up to £80, while some are not charging. The Challenge Network charges £35.  

“We feel a charge is necessary. A small contribution signals a commitment - even if you pay just £5 you are more likely to turn up. If you have no financial commitment people don’t value it.”

He continued: “If it is too much we do have bursaries for around 10 to 15 per cent of young people and once you are on the programme everything is free, including food.”

The National Citizen Service scheme is a six-week programme, starting with a one-week residential away from participants' local area – each groups is a team of 12 with two mentors. In the second week, young people spend time in their home town at a local residential such as halls of university.

In the third week, young people work with their mentors to come up with a community project to work on. They then pitch this to local leaders who fund it with perhaps £100. Then there are four back-to-back weekends to implement the community project.

Morley says graduates can come back as volunteer mentors, creating a career track.

The Challenge Network is delivering a third of the National Citizen Service scheme this year. Other providers on the National Citizen Service scheme include Catch22 and the Football League Trust.