YOUNG volunteers are facing an uncertain future following the announcement of funding cuts.

The funding formula for the Millennium Volunteers (MV) programme has changed, leaving North Yorkshire with a 68 per cent reduction in the amount it receives from the Government.

MV is a national initiative that involves 16 to 24-year-olds in their communities.

By 2006/2007, MVs in North Yorkshire will receive only £135,000 in funding, compared with £420,000 in 2003/2004.

During the past four years, 2,500 young people in the county have been involved in Millennium Volunteers, giving more than 210,000 hours of their time to a variety of community schemes.

Four large MV providers will be affected by the cuts, including Hambleton MV, and Henshaws Society for the Blind, in Harrogate, where MVs help to run art, music and sports projects.

CSV, which runs projects in Ryedale and Selby, and York MV will also be affected. Organisers said they would be left with nothing more than "a token MV provision" by 2006/2007.

York MV co-ordinator Robert Partridge said: "Many of these 16 to 24-year-olds would not have given volunteering a second thought without the encouragement of MV staff.

"Evidence suggests that many of these young people will continue to volunteer in the future, and MV is doing much to overcome the impression that young people are a scourge on society.

"Whilst we are doing everything we can to ensure that MV will continue, the sad fact is that these programmes, whilst inexpensive in the big scheme of things, cost money to run.

"I think I can speak for all those involved in the delivery of Millennium Volunteers in York and North Yorkshire when I say that we are deeply saddened by the impact this will have on the young people in our county."