Statement from City Year UK following the recent government announcement that National Citizen Service will be closed down

On 12 November 2024, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy unveiled that the government had taken the decision to wind down National Citizen Service (NCS) and close the Trust in March 2025.

We are sad to see NCS being closed down; over the past 15 years, the programme has supported more than 750,000 young people to achieve their potential, offering them great personal and professional development opportunities and a chance to make a difference in their communities and experience the impact of social action.

Kevin Munday, Chief Executive of City Year UK says:
“Many of our volunteer mentors came to us after being inspired to serve their communities during their NCS experience. Some went on after their City Year to get their first paid work helping to deliver NCS programmes. We hope a focus on supporting young people to take social action is retained within the future National Youth Strategy.”

As the government prepares to develop a new National Youth Strategy focused on improving opportunity, we welcome seeing young people being invited to shape the overall policy and have their voices heard. We look forward to seeing how young people’s views will be embedded in the strategy development process in order to achieve an impactful programme, and hope that the young mentors and children we support in schools will also have a chance to get involved and share their own experiences and perspectives.