Friday 22 March 2024
National Citizen Service (NCS) Trust and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) have selected eight new partners with expertise in youth engagement and employment to deliver the UK Year of Service programme. UK Year of Service is a groundbreaking national programme to support 18-24 year olds furthest from the labour market into long-term employment.
NCS Trust and DCMS will fund the following organisations to provide 100 placements for young adults from the North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber:
- Calico Enterprise
- City Year UK
- EFL Trust
- Groundwork NE
- HYPE Merseyside
- Fleetwood Town Community Trust
- Flying Futures
- One Manchester
The 35 hour per week placements will last for nine months and participants will be paid the living wage. Funding also includes skills training, wrap-around support within and beyond placement and support for exit routes into further education and employment. As leaders in areas including youth skills, employability and community, the new partners bring a wide variety of placements from Youth Support Workers, through to Project Coordinators and Marketing Executives.
The programme builds on the success of a three year pilot which supported 336 young people in paid placements. 56% of 2021-2022 participants were on Universal Credit prior to joining the programme, with data from partners suggesting that over 80% of young people taking part went directly into education, employment or training following their placement.
Founded by Lord Blunkett and Stephen Greene CBE, the Founding Chair of NCS, UK Year of Service aims to address a key issue facing the UK’s employment market, which has around half a million under 25-year-olds out of work. The main barrier to young people finding employment is a lack of experience, and almost 50% of young people feel education has not properly equipped them with skills they need to get the job they want. UK Year of Service reconciles these challenges.
Minister for Civil Society and Youth Stuart Andrew said: "UK Year of Service offers an invaluable opportunity for 18 to 24 year olds to be set on a positive path towards long term employment, education or training, with over 330 having benefitted to date.
"These new partners will provide young people with brilliant opportunities to gain new skills and improve their employability. I look forward to seeing the outcome of their support."
Mark Gifford, CEO of NCS Trust, said: “We are very excited to announce our new UK Year of Service partners who collectively offer a wealth of expertise in youth skills and employment in local communities. We are proud of the UK Year of Service track record through the pilot and look forward to building on this success to support more young people to become world ready and work ready.”
Follow the UK Year of Service social channels on LinkedIn and X to keep up to date with the latest opportunities.
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For more information, please contact:
NCS press office – email media@ncstrust.org.uk or call 020 3920 8576.
About NCS (National Citizen Service)
NCS offers a range of experiences for young people that support them to become world ready and work ready — through growing their confidence, independence and skills; connecting them with people from all walks of life; and empowering them to make a difference in their communities and wider society.
Over the past decade, more than 800,000 young people have benefitted from an NCS experience, dedicating over 18 million hours to community based social action, while gaining invaluable life experiences.
NCS is managed and supported by NCS Trust, our central team who are constantly working to make sure that NCS delivers impactful experiences to as many young people as possible. NCS is funded by the UK Government through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a core part of the National Youth Guarantee.
About UK Year of Service
UK Year of Service is a unique employability programme for 18-24 year olds, offering 9-12 months paid work in a socially beneficial role. It includes an embedded skills training programme, wrap-around support within and beyond placement and support for exit routes into further education or employment.
To find out more about UK Year of Service visit ukyear.com and follow our social channels LinkedIn and X.
