‘Still a long way to go before volunteering becomes the norm’ despite improvement, RVS warns

The Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) has welcomed latest government figures that show a rise in the proportion of people giving up their time for good causes, but has warned there is “still a long way to go before volunteering becomes the norm”.

The government’s Community and Engagement Survey figures show that the proportion of people aged over 16 who formally volunteered at least once a month has increased from 17% to 18% over the last year in the 12 months to March this year.

The proportion engaged in informal volunteering at least a month has also increased from 24% to 25% over the same period.

But the rate of volunteering is still behind figures released before the Covid pandemic when social distancing rules led to a slump in the numbers supporting charities in this way.

Figures for 2018/19 show that 22% took part in formal volunteering, while 36% engaged in informal volunteering.

Initiatives to help boost volunteering over the last year include the launch by the Royal Voluntary Service of the GoVo volunteering platform to better match people with opportunities.

RVS chief executive Catherine Johnstone said: “These findings show there has been real momentum in the sector to drive volunteering forward and make it more accessible for all, and it's great to see our collective efforts paying off.

However, she added that further improvement was needed before volunteering is normalised among the public UK wide “which is the future RVS is striving for”.

Johnstone added: “This is a very promising start to reversing the decline in volunteering that we saw post pandemic, but we need to maintain a cross sector, whole population approach if we are to succeed in 'volunteering for all'.”

Big Lunch and Big Help Out participation

While not included in the government’s figures, this June’s Big Lunch and Big Help Out campaign to encourage action in communities, has also boosted interest in volunteering recently. Figures released by the campaign show that 15m people took part.

Trevor Pears, executive chair of Big Lunch and Big Help Out partner the Pears Foundation, said: “Seeing 15 million people take part this year shows the appetite is there.

“We want to build on that energy and, alongside others across civil society, create more opportunities for people everywhere to connect, contribute and strengthen the communities they’re part of.”