Mitzvah Day is to receive David Cameron's Big Society Award, joining a select band of two dozen community groups.

Mr Cameron praised the day as "a fantastic initiative to inspire people to come together and do something positive for their community. I would like to congratulate the organisers for all their hard work and all the volunteers who have supported it over the years."

Mitzvah Day founder Laura Marks revealed that this year's participants accumulated more than 50,000 hours of volunteering. It was "a great example of grass-roots social action that works. We are proud to partner with so many great charities and organisations and they share this award with us."