The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has cancelled activities for its annual Volunteers' Week, amid social distancing rules imposed by the UK government.

The annual celebration, which was due to take place from 1-7 June, is led by NCVO, Volunteer Scotland, Northern Ireland's Volunteer Now and Wales Council for Voluntary Action. It seeks to recognise the work volunteers do through a number of scheduled activities.

But this year, NCVO said its current resources were focused 'entirely on the immediate crisis' and, alongside Volunteer Now, it has decided to pause its involvement while the crisis continues.

The events listings and the 'stories from the week' section on volunteersweek.org, which is run by NCVO, will be closed to new content. Existing resources will remain available but will not be updated for this year.

"Like most charities, our resources are now focused entirely on providing support through the immediate crisis. Even if it felt the right time to mark Volunteers’ Week, the practical difficulties would make it extremely challenging," NCVO CEO, Karl Wilding said.

"I know some will still want to continue with what plans they can for the week, and I understand that. For those that are, I would suggest exercising some caution in their messaging and consider how it may be received – the usual celebratory tone may not be right this year.

"But I hope that we all nevertheless take a moment to reflect on the enormous contribution that volunteers are making today and every day, and to recognise the volunteers in our organisations for what they are doing at this most difficult time."

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