The prevalence of volunteering among adults in England is measured by the DCMS ‘Community Life Survey’. It shows:
- Volunteering has been in decline over the last 10 years, and has not recovered to pre-Covid levels
- Volunteering in London is slightly below the England average. The highest levels are seen in the South West and South East
- Adults living in rural areas (36%) were more likely to have participated in any volunteering at least once a month than adults living in urban areas (32%)
- The findings go on to show differences in the likelihood of volunteering by multiple socio-economic groups
By far the top motivation for volunteering, cited by nearly half of respondents, was that they wanted to improve things / help people. By far the biggest barrier to volunteering, again cited by around half of respondents, was having work commitments.
The Royal Voluntary Service has launched a new volunteer management platform to try to address the decline in volunteering – GoVo.
GoVo aims to make it easier to find volunteering roles that suit busy lifestyles. It can be used by charities, volunteers, and also businesses (around a third of available volunteer days from businesses are not used).