8 December 2023
The National Citizen Service Trust has published its annual report for the financial year 2022/23. Read the report to hear more about the Trust’s performance and achievements from April 1st, 2022 to March 31st, 2023. The report also includes a foreword from NCS Trust’s new Chair of the Board, Harris Bokhari OBE, who joined in July 2023.
The report sets out how, in 2022/23 NCS delivered a high-impact service portfolio while designing a new strategy for 2023-25 in partnership with DCMS.
Overall, more than 120,000 young people were able to benefit from an NCS experience in 2022/23.
To ensure that NCS Trust is set up to deliver the new strategy and offer we have continued to transform the trust, finishing the year with a 25% year-on-year reduction in headcount.
Highlights from the 2022/2023 Annual Report:
Number of young people participating in NCS programmes
- NCS experiences - the combination of offerings across the year resulted in 121,019 young people benefiting from an NCS experience, against a target of 102,780.
- Summer & Autumn experiences - 46,753 young people benefited from the summer programme and 4,195 from the autumn programme.
- Skills Booster - 17,023 young people completed 15 hours of sessions delivered by network partners and NCS Trust resources were downloaded by educators and used in lessons with an estimated 47,605 young people.
- Changemakers - 9,396 young people took part in 73,474 hours of social action and volunteering activities in Changemaker teams.
- UK Year of Service - 58 extra participants were supported into work that’s grounded in local communities - employed across the healthcare, public service and environmental sectors (in addition to our existing 278 UK Year of Service participants).
- NCS Connect - 101,148 young people (including 22,426 returning visitors) engaged with short-form content on the NCS blog, accessing opinion pieces, debates, life lessons and advice, creativity challenges, features and stories. The NCS social media channels had 1.2 million engagements across a range of content .
- Feedback from our Brand Tracker has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly around social action
- 84% agreed that NCS Blog has given them ideas and opportunities to volunteer in their local community.
- 81% agreed that it has helped them to develop skills.
- Winter Residential - 2,750 young people took part in a one-week ‘winter residential’ programme in February and March 2023. The programme focused on young people who do not usually engage with NCS and it aimed to develop the participants’ life skills.
NCS participants vs. population: FSM, SEND, Black, Asian and minority ethnic
- 21% of NCS summer and autumn participants were eligible for free school meals compared to 19% of state secondary school pupils.
- 9% of NCS summer and autumn participants had SEND (EHC plan) compared to 2% of state secondary school pupils.
- 33% of NCS summer and autumn participants were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds compared to 26% of state secondary school pupils.
NCS participation vs. population: Priority Areas
- 28% of participants in summer and autumn programmes were from NCS Priority Areas compared to 25% of state secondary school pupils.
Mark Gifford, CEO of NCS Trust, said:
“We have successfully delivered against our strategic objectives for 2022/23, providing a range of high quality experiences for over 120,000 young people, focusing on priority groups and areas while transforming our business model. The new portfolio of services gives a greater number of young people more flexibility and choice to gain the skills and experiences they need to become world ready and work ready. We have achieved this while reducing Trust costs thereby delivering better value for the taxpayer. I’m also proud of our progress with strengthening relationships across the youth sector, especially with grassroots organisations.
“Our evolved Youth Advisory Board has been working closely with our Board to ensure that youth voice is central to everything we do. I am excited to be working with our new Chair Harris Bokhari OBE who has had an instant positive impact and I would like to thank his predecessor Brett Wigdortz for his exemplary leadership over the past 5 years.
“I look forward to leading the trust into the next year and continuing to deliver our vision of ‘a country of connected, confident and caring citizens where everyone feels at home’.”
The NCS Annual Report 2022/23 is available on our website at wearencs.com
Ends
For more information contact the NCS Press Office at pr@ncstrust.org.uk or call us on 020 3920 8576.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About NCS (National Citizen Service)
NCS is an experience like no other. Designed for 16-17 year olds, and for young people (aged between 18 and 24) with special educational needs and disabilities, NCS runs year round and offers a range of experiences for young people throughout the year, helping them to have greater confidence, resilience and wellbeing. Teens get the opportunity to mix with a new crowd, learn about independent living, take on new challenges and build friendships.
The programme is all about emboldening young people – by giving them a taste of independence, equipping them with essential life skills, and building work-readiness through volunteering and social action.
NCS participants will benefit from a new residential experience from 2023, which will consist of a five day stay away from home where they will take part in activities that centre around employability, independent living or social action. Young people will have access to digital experiences and will be able to take part in NCS closer to home with regular one-off activities where they can gain new skills, learn more about their local community, and how they can help to improve it.
Since 2009 more than 800,000 young people have benefitted from an NCS experience, completing over 18 million hours of community action, and gaining priceless life experiences.
NCS offers bursaries and support to those who need it most, including families on Universal Credit and young people with special educational needs or disabilities, in line with its commitment to make the life-changing NCS experience available to every young person.
NCS delivers value for money. £3.05 of benefits to society for every £1 spent. During lockdown NCS has had over 1.7 million unique engagements with teens through its ‘Staying Connected’ hub.
About NCS Trust
NCS Trust is an Arm's Length Body of DCMS incorporated by Royal Charter and established to shape, support, champion and lead a thriving National Citizen Service.
National Citizen Service Trust is registered in England and Wales with Royal Charter Body number RC000894.
To learn more about NCS Trust visit LinkedIn
To find out more visit wearencs.com
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