Today, our annual statistics reveal that more than 323,000 young people started their DofE in 2022/23 and participants gave 3.5 million hours of volunteering in their local communities.

The record-breaking numbers, published today, show that 537,759 young people are currently working towards their Award across the UK – up more than 10% on 2021/22.

The figures mark the end of the second year of our ambitious five-year strategy to reach one million young people by 2026 – with a focus on breaking down barriers for marginalised young people and reaching more schools in deprived areas, community organisations, further education colleges, organisations supporting young people with additional needs, and prisons and young offender institutions.

DofE was offered for the first time in 72 community organisations, 15 further education colleges, 126 centres for young people with additional needs and 36 alternative provision centres, supporting students who cannot attend mainstream school.

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The annual statistics also show that 262 secondary schools offered the DofE for the first time, including 98 in the most deprived areas of England.

Find out more:

Press Release

UK figures April 2022 – March 2023

Young people actively doing DofE – 537,759
Leaders and volunteers delivering DofE programmes – 38,888
Licenced Organisations actively delivering DofE – 4,520

Total volunteering hours given by young people – 3,541,707
Estimated total value of volunteering hours – £17,035,611

Total Awards started
323,676

Bronze – 228,251
Silver – 70,942
Gold – 24,483

Awards started by young people facing marginalisation

Experiencing poverty – 49,680 (15.3%)
From minority ethnic backgrounds – 81,460 (25.2%)
Have additional needs – 22,456 (6.9%)

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