The government has confirmed that around half the National Citizen Service pilot projects for 2012 will charge participants either fees or refundable deposits or require them to raise small fundraising targets in return for a place on the scheme.

In response to a question from Labour MP Catherine McKinnell about which projects would charge for participation and how much, Hurd said that 14 of the 30 providers “are trialing the use of small individual fundraising targets for young people, refundable deposits or fees in order to promote young people’s commitment to the programme”.  

However, he also stressed that “all pilots have measures in place including bursaries and waivers to ensure that ability to pay is never a barrier to participation in the programme”.

Around half of the 2011 providers also charged something for participation.

Next year, the highest fundraising target or fee will be £80 per volunteer, charged by New College Nottingham, while the lowest will be a refundable deposit of £20 charged by Envision.