More than 120,000 young people have benefitted from The National Citizen Service (NCS) in the past year, with more than a fifth of participants eligible for free school meals, according to the NCS Trust's latest annual report.
Participation numbers for the service, which is run by the NCS Trust and underwent changes this year in a shift to a year-round programme, have increased as a whole.
Some 121,019 young people benefitted from an NCS experience in 22/23 compared with 95,549 last year.
Additionally, 46,753 young people benefited from the summer programme and 4,195 from the autumn programme in 22/23, compared with 35,023 and 12,289 last year, respectively.
