The NCS, founded by former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011, will move from its flagship residential offer over the school holidays to a year-round scheme expected to allow young people the opportunity to take part in residential breaks, community schemes and online training.
Mark Gifford, chief executive of the NCS, said the organisation's new format would “deliver life-enhancing experiences to help young people become world ready and work ready”.
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Analysis: NCS boss sets out plans to expand scheme
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Interview: Mark Gifford, National Citizen Service chief executive
“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,” he added.
The NCS has also revealed plans to focus on working “more closely” with the youth sector.
A briefing package, designed for youth organisations considering bidding for partnerships with the NCS, suggests that residential stays would be a minimum of four nights and five days, with a maximum capacity of 120 people per stay.
They would be youth-led and offer a choice of themes such as employability, social action and independent living and life skills.
Suggestions for community volunteering offers include either a 12-week offer with 90 hours of volunteering for groups of 30 young people or “drop-in” sessions with different lengths of engagement.
The new digital offer could provide young people with a mix of pre-recorded and live training sessions, according to the documents.
However, the briefing pack states that “any assumptions and proposals made in this document are illustrative only and do not as yet form part of any formal proposals”.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) also announced details of the offer as part of the government’s plan for "levelling up".
Online training is set to include workshops in financial management and public speaking, ministers said.
The NCS will pilot a "Year of Service" programme, an employability initiative offering young people a nine- to 12-month paid service placement in their local communities.
“The pilot is planned to support 330 young people into socially impactful jobs with wages funded by the NCS Trust and the government’s Kickstart scheme,” according to DCMS.
The NCS has seen a significant reduction in funding through the government’s plans for “levelling up”.
The organisation will receive £171m over three years compared with as much as £180m per year given to the NCS in previous years.
However, Gifford said moving to a year-round offer, revealed by CYP Now last year, would allow the organisation to bid for “significantly less” funding from the Treasury.
At last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced £173m for the NCS over three years, £2m less than has been ringfenced for the programme in the latest announcements.
Following the publication of the Levelling Up white paper, Gifford said: “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’.”
