Encourage Participation

What's the policy?

Encourage people to take an active role in their communities

1. "We will take a range of measures to encourage volunteering and involvement in social action, including launching a national ‘Big Society Day’ and making regular community involvement a key element of civil service staff appraisals.
2. We will take a range of measures to encourage charitable giving and philanthropy.
3. We will introduce a National Citizen Service. The initial flagship project will provide a programme for 16 year olds to give them a chance to develop the skills needed to be active and responsible citizens, mix with people from different backgrounds, and start getting involved in their communities." (Building the Big Society, Cabinet Office)

What's the evidence?

1a. What are the main trends in volunteering?

Volunteering levels – both formal and informal – have fluctuated remarkably little over the last 20 years. The table below shows the number of people who formally volunteered at least once a year and informally volunteered at least once a year between 1981 and 2009.

Volunteering in England and Wales, 1981 to 2009

Source: Citizenship Survey and National Survey of Volunteering (click year for source pdf)

According to the latest UK Civil Society Almanac, if the proportion of adults who formally volunteer at least once a year was applied to the total adult population, the number of formal volunteers in the last twelve months in England is estimated to be 17.1 million. The Citizenship Survey report on volunteering and charitable giving indicates that people who regularly took part in formal volunteering (i.e. at least once a month) in 2008-09 spent an average of 12.6 hours volunteering in the four weeks before the survey interview.

The Pathways through Participation literature review notes that typical formal volunteers are women, of higher social grades, in managerial positions, degree educated, and middle aged. There are, however, differences across different types of formal volunteering.

1b. What are the benefits of employer-supported volunteering?

Based on the survey Helping Out, the IVR research bulletin on employer-supported volunteering highlights that 2006-07 36% of current employees had an employer-supported volunteering (ESV) scheme available to them. Public sector employees had access to an ESV scheme more frequenlty than private sector employees (45% compared to 30%). The most common model for ESV schemes was for employers to support staff to volunteer in their own time (33%). However, 27% indicated that their employer gave them paid time off to volunteer and 17% were given flexi-time to cover the hours spent.

A recent survey carried out by reed.co.uk of over 500 recruiters and over 3,000 jobseekers across the UK found that 84% of employers understand that volunteering can add skills to their workforce, 70% feel that employee volunteering enhances the community profile of their company and 77% know that building good relations with their communities is important. However half admit thinking that their employees fear asking them for paid time off to volunteer.

1c. What might the impact of a Big Society Day be?

The impact of the Big Society Day will depend on whether it is a bank holiday or not. Great Britain currently has 8 bank holidays, compared to an EU average of 10.9 days. NCVO, the TUC, CSV, Volunteering England and NAVCA have been campaigning for a Community Day dedicated to communities and volunteering for over three years. Opinion differs on the costs and benefits of an additional bank holiday (‘Community Day’ or ‘Big Society Day’). The TUC estimates that if 10% of the population took an active role in Community Day, the 'on the day' effect of greater community activity would be worth £250 million (based on 5 million people doing 5 hours work at a value of £10 per hour). The CBI estimated that an additional bank holiday could cost up to £6 million, although this counts lost work days and does not take into account increased expenditure on sectors such as recreation and culture, restaurants and hotels and travel that are likely to benefit from increased trading associated with bank holidays.

2. What are the main trends in charitable giving and philanthropy?

The NCVO/CAF UK Giving 2009 report indicates that a majority of adults in the UK gave to charity in 2008-09. In a typical month 54% donated, the equivalent to 26.9 million adult. The average donation in 2008-09 was £31 per donor and the median donation £10.

A small number of donors continue to generate a large proportion of the total amount donated. In 2008/09, 2 million people (7% of donors) gave more than £100 per month, but these donors generated almost half (49%) of the total amount given to charity. Overall in 2008/09, 58% of women gave to charity compared to 49% of men. Within all age groups women were more likely to donate than men.

3. How do young people participate?

The IVR research bulletin on young people volunteering and giving highlights that 57% of all young people (aged 16 to 24) surveyed had formally volunteered in some way over the previous year; 43% of young people were regular volunteers, helping out more than once a month, and 13% were occasional volunteers, helping out less than once a month.

Extent of formal volunteering, by age (% of age group)

Source: IVR - Young people help out (pdf), Table 1

In the Helping Out survey, young people were the age group most likely to say that they got involved in volunteering to help them get on in their careers. They were also most likely to mention wanting to gain new skills from their volunteering.

Costs for National Citizen Service pilots based on development work so far and pilot programmes for the Citizen Service in London, Wales and the North West are estimated to be £13 million in 2011 and £37 million in 2012. Funding of £50 million diverted from PREVENT will pay for most of this.

What are the potential challenges and opportunities?

Opportunities

• A considerable number of people are already volunteering or/and giving money to charitable causes. They present a good base to build on.
• Existing community groups and voluntary organisations have the potential to appeal to a wide range of people because they are hugely diverse.
• There is a wealth of knowledge amongst volunteer managers and volunteer-involving organisations that can inform future policies.

Challenges

• Measures to encourage participation need to be based on a good understanding of how people actually want to engage - what makes them tick.
• Participation is often not inclusive - how can we ensure that participation does not reinforce inequalities?

References

• Cabinet Office (2007) Helping Out: a national survey of volunteering and charitable giving
• CLG (2010) 2008-09 Citizenship Survey: Volunteering and Charitable Giving Topic Report
• DCLG (2006) 2005 Citizenship Survey Active Communities Topic Report
• DCLG (2009) 2007-08 Citizenship Survey: Volunteering and Charitable Giving Topic Report
• Home Office (2003) 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey: People, Families and Communities
• Home Office (2004) 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey: People, Families and Communities
• IVR (1997) 1997 National Survey of Volunteering in the UK (summary)
• IVR (2008) Caring companies: engagement in employer-supported volunteering
• IVR (2008) Young people help out: volunteering and giving among young people
• NCVO/CAF (2009) UK Giving 2009
• NCVO (2010) The UK Civil Society Almanac 2010
• Pathways through Participation (2010) Understanding participation: a literature review

Additional areas to explore

• Impact of major volunteering programmes.
• Motivations for volunteering.
• Link between volunteering and giving.
• Youth participation beyond volunteering schemes.