Popular Duke of Edinburgh's Award schemes are being scrapped as part of the Leicestershire County Council spending cuts.

Programmes run by the county youth service in 18 schools are being discontinued as part of the authority's effort to save £66 million.

Hundreds of young people are set to lose out on the chance to gain an award.

Mums Maria Armstrong and Linda Barker say they are angry their children will not be able to carry on with the awards at Lutterworth Youth Centre, Lutterworth College, next year.

The teenagers are currently working towards silver and bronze awards, which involve developing hobbies, physical activity, community work and expeditions. A letter from County Hall said it could not be sure youth workers would have the necessary time to complete the award with a new intake so they would drop the programme from this month.

Mrs Barker said: "We are bitterly disappointed because it stands for so much having this award.

"We are extremely annoyed that Leicestershire is always cutting something.

"The educational spend per child is not as much as other counties and we think that is wrong."

Her daughter, Rebecca Buckley, said she was planning to wait before taking her gold but other friends were disappointed about the scheme not going ahead this year.

Rebecca said: "I don't think it is very good because obviously people still want to do it.

"It is a really good skill thing to put on your CV and university applications.

"Some people were quite upset and angry because they wanted to do their gold with the same people and same leaders and they don't understand why that was being cut because it gives people something to do."

Mrs Armstrong said her son Patrick, 15, would lose out.

She said: "I do understand about cuts, but it seems hard when it is your own child.

"We live in Broughton Astley and there is nothing here for the youngsters. The alternative is hanging around."

A county council spokesman said: "We are looking at redesigning the youth service to make sure it meets the needs of the most vulnerable in Leicestershire. Where appropriate, the Duke of Edinburgh scheme will still be made available to those young people.

"Parents' concerns are understandable but in the current financial climate, we are having to make difficult decisions.

"We are faced with some tough choices about our broader youth service provision.

"No decision has been taken specifically about the Duke of Edinburgh scheme beyond March 2011, but we are starting to speak to schools and other partners to explore how this scheme might be made available to all young people in other ways in the future."

Some Duke of Edinburgh schemes are run by scouts and the Air Training Corps and will not be affected. Leicester City Council schemes are also not thought to be affected.