Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, has warned that the government may not meet the total costs of the national citizen service pilots.

In a parliamentary debate on national citizen service last week, Creasy complained that the tender document for the national citizen service pilots set out "the government’s refusal to meet the total costs of the programme".

“Just how much of the bill does the minister (Nick Hurd) expect the voluntary sector and young people themselves to meet?,” she asked.

Hurd said the costs of the pilots would be revealed as a result of the spending review: “We are committed to two years of pilots to test a range of approaches to delivering the service, which will help us to identify the most cost-effective way forward.

"We will have a clear idea of the likely costs of a wider roll-out of the national citizen service once we have evaluated the two-year pilot phase.”