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National Citizen Service Evaluation

About this study

National Citizen Service (NCS) is a key part of the Government's Big Society agenda. It aims to build a more cohesive, responsible and engaged society by bringing 16 year olds from different backgrounds together in a residential and home-based programme of activity service during the summer.

Twelve providers are running NCS pilot schemes for a total of 11,000 young people throughout the summer of 2011.

We will be evaluating these pilots to find out:

the difference that participation in NCS makes to young people

best practice for engaging young people in NCS, building community partnerships and recruiting staff

how NCS is received in the communities in which it is piloted, including public attitudes to NCS and the views of community leaders in areas where the pilots are being run

the value for money delivered by the models used in the pilot phase

How we're working

We're leading a team of collaborators that include The Office for Public Management, New Philanthropy Capital and Frontier Ecnonomics.

Potential policy impact

National Citizen Service is a key component of the Big Society agenda, and  our evaluation will have a direct impact on the development of the pilots in 2012 and further roll-out of the programme in 2013.

Methods

This is a mixed methods evalution made up of four strands, listed below:

1. Process evaluation: Qualitative case studies involving depth interviews, deliberative workshops and video ethnography.
2. Impact survey: A baseline postal survey followed by two telephone/web follow-up surveys with NCS participants and a matched comparison group.
3. Economic analysis: Cost effectiveness and cost-benefit calculations and benchmarking NCS against other programmes.
4. Analysis of how NCS is represented in news and social media.

Researchers

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