Plans to launch the National Citizen Service (NCS) scheme alongside an integrated marketing campaign have been approved by the Cabinet Office, reports Marketing Week.

Cuts to government budgets for public information campaigns have been a common occurrence in marketing news over the past year, as ministers looked to reduce public spending across the board. However as the government prepares to launch its flagship scheme for encouraging young people to volunteer and undertake community work, it has begun to draw up plans for promoting it to the public.

In its latest spending review update, the cabinet office revealed that it had approved funding for developing “an NCS communication and engagement strategy, including plans for marketing, a mechanism for participants to feedback on providers, and ways of facilitating ongoing service and connections through a common web platform for alumni.” A target date of February 2011 has been set for the planning stage, ahead of the first NCS pilot between June and September 2011.

The government has championed the NCS scheme as a key part of its “Big Society” vision, encouraging young people to become active and responsible citizens through volunteer and community work. It hopes that this will encourage greater community participation throughout the UK, as well as support young people in developing skills and responsibility.

The NCS scheme was introduced to the public during the Conservative party’s election campaign earlier this year. Described by David Cameron as a “kind of non-military national service”, where participation is voluntary rather than obligatory. At its announcement, the NCS was publicly backed by Sir Michael Caine who said that though his own experience of national service during the Korean War “wasn’t very good….but what we do need is something to replace it.” He said that the NCS scheme would help reach teenagers who have been “forgotten in this country.”

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