Duke of Edinburgh's Award launches £3m drive to support disadvantaged children

The youth charity hopes to use the money to increase the number of disadvantaged young people it works with across the UK from almost 50,000 a year to 70,000 a year by 2021.

The charity plans to achieve this by spending the money on preparing new organisations to run Duke of Edinburgh's Award programmes, equipment and transport for local groups, gifted participation places and training for award leaders.

The funding is made up of donations from Duke of Edinburgh's Award supporters and £1m from the government and Big Lottery Fund's #iwill fund, which backs projects that seek to increase young people's participation in social action and to help them make a positive difference to their communities.

"We are delighted to be joining forces with the #iwill fund to ensure that over the next four years, over a quarter of a million disadvantaged young people are given the head start we know a Duke of Edinburgh's Award experience will provide," said Peter Westgarth, chief executive of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Gemma Bull, portfolio development director at the Big Lottery Fund, said: "This new partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, as part of the #iwill fund, provides an exciting opportunity to support young people to develop their skills and confidence.

"Working with partners and their networks we can reach more young people, enabling them to take the lead in creating new social action opportunities that benefit themselves and their local communities."

In 2016/17 more than 270,000 young people in the UK started a Duke of Edinburgh's Award programme.