NCS gets £171M to help teens become ‘world ready and work ready’

NCS Trust has been awarded  £171 million for the next three years to allow the organisation ‘to continue its great work’, following today’s announcement by the Government of its ambitious plans to level up activities for young people.

NCS, the country’s flagship youth programme for 16-17-year-olds and the largest in Europe for young people on the cusp of adulthood, has engaged with over 600,000 young people in its 10-year history.

Key NCS highlights include:

  • Young people on NCS have contributed over 15million volunteering hours
  • 70% of teens who took part felt more confident about getting a job in the future
  • 78% felt more positive about people from different backgrounds, in line with the NCS social cohesion mission
  • NCS has a greater positive impact on female participants, teens from disadvantaged backgrounds, those who are disabled and those from ethnically diverse backgrounds

NCS Trust CEO Mark Gifford said: “Today’s announcement is a strong vote of confidence in NCS by the Government and DCMS. We are very  grateful for their continued support, allowing us to deliver life-enhancing experiences to help young people become world ready and work ready.

“We can now continue to transform our portfolio of services, giving more choice to young people about how they engage with our offering, especially those most in need of ‘a leg up’. Our transforming agenda means we will be able to broaden our digital experiences as well as delivering adventures away from home and life skills to complement the school curriculum. We can now move forward confident of three years funding to support what we do, delivering further value to the taxpayer while helping teens to build confidence and resilience as they emerge from the shadow of the pandemic.

“We remain committed to backing the young people of our country, so that we can continue to help future generations develop skills for life, give back to their communities as true national citizens, and build the future that they will inherit and inhabit as ‘our next greatest generation’.”

For more information about NCS, please visit www.wearencs.com.