Gapping in the UK: Broaden your home horizon

With the average cost of a gap year abroad now £3,000, A year spent volunteering in the UK could be the ideal alternative, says Paul Donohoe

You don't have to go overseas to have a challenging, purposeful and rewarding gap year. There's plenty to be done back home. Volunteers can support young offenders, homeless people and adults with learning difficulties as well as helping people with physical disabilities lead independent lives, and all sorts of projects and activities besides.

Stewart Ward, 19, from Crawley, is a case in point. He spent nine months at Bradford University where he volunteered with disabled students. Stewart explains why he decided to volunteer in the UK: "I did consider volunteering abroad but to be honest the biggest issue was the cost. Most projects needed to be self-funded and I didn't have the money or anyone to support me financially. CSV offered me accommodation and a set living allowance."

Ward also found that his time with CSV helped broaden his horizons. "In many ways even though I stayed in the UK, my gap year did offer me an international experience. Bradford is far more multi-cultural than Crawley, and many of the students on campus are from abroad," Stewart says. "I learnt a lot about other people's beliefs and seeing how some cultural differences clash and others merge together."

Many school leavers are also attracted to a domestic gap year because they feel they need a well-deserved break from education, or because they aren't quite ready to dedicate their life to a specific career path. Volunteering is also a great way of gaining experience for a future career.

Emma Yap, 20, from Hampshire, supported children with cerebral palsy at a school in Cardiff for her gap year. As she explains: "I chose to become a CSV because I didn't feel ready enough to go straight from college to university and also because I wanted to become a social worker." Her placement was perfect training for her chosen future career, helping her gain experience of this area of work, and secure her determination to succeed in it.

For Yap the chance to live away from home also allowed her to grow as a person and bond with other volunteers. She says: "There is no experience like being a CSV. I am about to leave my project with some of the best possible friends you could ever make. I hope that other people will realise that this experience is well worth doing and will change your life for the better. If I had to live my past year again, I wouldn't change a thing."

With so many candidates for universities, HE colleges and jobs having a similar educational background, UK gap years are a great way to gain skills and impress future employers. They offer a way for you to immerse yourself in a society and become part of a new community. Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, CSV executive director, says: "We know that employers find that former gap year volunteers have gained strong communication skills, are good at team-building and problem-solving. Quite simply, the experience of volunteering during their gap year has helped prepare them for life."

'It has helped my confidence'

Semone Edwards, 18, from Birmingham, volunteered for seven months at the University of Warwick before taking a place in human biology and health studies at Wolverhampton University

"I decided to volunteer because I wanted a break in between school and university. I was interested in a career in care or teaching, so I thought I could spend my year out by working in care homes but I found that difficult to arrange because I didn't have the necessary experience. Luckily, a friend saw an advert for CSV.

I volunteered to support a disabled student at the University of Warwick complete her degree. She has a muscular weakness condition and needs to use an electric wheelchair. I'd help her get up and ready, and I'd cook and shop for her.

I really enjoyed living on campus. It really has given me the taste for university life. There were five other volunteers working with me and living on the campus and we all built a great friendship

Volunteering is was one of the best things I've done. Volunteering has also helped my confidence a hell of a lot. I think I have become more responsible am definitely more aware of the issues that disabled people have to face."

Community Service Volunterers (0800 374 991; www.csv.org.uk/gapyear)