Public sector support for volunteering: An audit

Total public sector support for volunteering is in the region of 400 million*
*This figure includes central government support for volunteering throughout the UK but only includes English local authority and health authority support for voluntary activity per annum.
Of this about half can be seen as direct expenditure on the promotion and support of volunteering. The other half is indirect support arising out of government assistance to voluntary organisations.
Central government supports volunteering directly to the tune of 50 million a year.
Local government is the main public sector funder of volunteering, contributing over 80 million per annum to its development and support.
For the investment of this 400 million, government gets a notional economic return on volunteer output of 12 billion, an investment ratio of 1:30.

The audit was commissioned by the Home Office in 1998 in order to assess the level of public sector support for volunteering. Such support includes both direct support through the funding of volunteer bureaux or equivalent agencies and indirect support through the funding of voluntary organisations which may involve volunteers. Some public bodies such as local authorities and NHS Trusts also involve volunteers directly in their own in-house activities.

Methodology

The audit built on the work of an earlier unpublished study by the Institute for Volunteering Research. The findings are based on:

A telephone survey of central government departments.
A postal questionnaire sent to around 800 public bodies in England including training and enterprise councils, local authorities, NHS trusts, fire authorities, government offices for the regions and community health councils.

The figures supplied in response to the survey were mainly for 1998/99 although in some cases data was given for 1997/98. Current government initiatives such as the setting up of the Active Community Unit and a boost in funding for the Millennium Volunteers project have taken place since these figures were compiled. The data in the report is therefore intended to be a snapshot of government support for volunteering rather than a comprehensive and up-to-date picture.

Central government support

Direct support for volunteering

Government departments support volunteering by funding volunteer-involving organisations, strategic bodies that support voluntary activity and through government-run volunteer initiatives. The following departments emerged as major supporters of volunteering:

The Department of International Development, which gave 21 million to Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO).
The Department for Education and Employment, which spent 9.6 million on the Millennium Volunteers programme, aimed at getting more young people to volunteer.
The Department of Health, which gave 9.1 million in a grant to the Opportunities for Volunteering (OFV) scheme. Opportunities for Volunteering currently supports over 500 local projects and has involved around 70,000 volunteers since 1982.
The Home Office oversees government support for the voluntary sector through its Voluntary and Community Unit (now known as the Active Community Unit). The Unit spent 5.7 million directly on volunteering and gave 8.3 million to voluntary organisations in 1998/99. Of this total 3 million went to national infrastructure and strategic bodies such as the Community Development Foundation and the National Centre for Volunteering. The Unit also gave 5.3 million to the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service.
Home Office support for volunteering was not confined to the Voluntary and Community Unit as in 1995/96 and 1996/97 it provided over 9 million in Challenge Funding for special constables. It is calculated that 75 per cent of the 12.7 million Home Office grant for Victim Support went towards the involvement of volunteers.
The government offices for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland played a similar role in supporting infrastructure bodies in their respective countries/regions as well as giving significant amounts of money to voluntary organisations. In terms of direct support given to volunteering the Scottish Office gave 2.2 million, the Northern Ireland Office 1.9 million and the Welsh Office 0.7 million in the year covered by this audit.

Indirect support for volunteering

Some government departments gave no direct support to volunteering but provided funding for voluntary organisations that involve volunteers:

The Ministry of Defence provided 1.9 million to the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service as well as grants to Relate and the Pre-School Learning Alliance.
The Department of Trade and Industry gave 14.5 million to the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and 1.5 million to Citizens Advice Scotland.
The Department of Social Security made grants of around 19 million in 1998/99 to voluntary organisations providing accommodation to single homeless people as well as grants of 123 million in 1997/98 to increase the independence of disabled people, primarily through the Independent Living Funds.
The value of tax relief from the Treasury is estimated to have benefited the voluntary sector in 1996/97 to the tune of 824 million.

Local public sector support for volunteering

Local authorities were asked for information on support for volunteering with the authority as well as in the voluntary sector and with other public bodies.

The figure for total local authority spending was estimated by projecting the totals obtained from those authorities which responded to the survey. The figure was then broken down by local authority type; namely county councils, district councils, unitary authorities, metropolitan and London boroughs.

Support for in-house volunteering

A total of 17.9 million was estimated as having been spent by local authorities on in-house volunteering:

There was much variation between the amount of direct support for volunteering in local authorities. Several authorities claimed to give no financial support whereas one county council said it spent 800,000 in supporting in-house voluntary activity.
County councils gave by far the largest amount of money in terms of in-house support with an estimated 10 million going to fund volunteering in areas such as social services, community transport and youth service mentoring.
English metropolitan councils gave an estimated 3 million to support in-house volunteering which included, for example, one authority with its own volunteering unit.
London boroughs supported volunteering to the tune of 2.5 million, which included support for volunteers involved in youth and community leisure programmes.
Unitary authorities were estimated as spending 1.4 million on support for volunteering in-house, which included a range of activities such as befriending and child cycling instruction.
The 1million projected as having been spent by district councils included money to support litter picking, tenants’ forums and sports and arts activities.

Support for volunteers on public bodies

It was estimated that local authorities spent 6.95 million in supporting volunteering on public bodies. District councils gave the most support with an estimated 3 million going to support volunteers on bodies such as neighbourhood watch schemes, shopmobility projects and sports hall committees. County councils spent an estimated 2 million on supporting members of the public serving as JPs, school governors and community museum managers.

Grants to volunteer development agencies

The biggest chunk of local government money, an estimated 41.5 million, went to support volunteer development agencies such as volunteer bureaux and councils for voluntary service. District councils were the biggest supporters of volunteer development agencies, providing approximately 19 million. Again there was enormous variety between local authorities, with some giving as little as 400 and others giving around 0.5 million.

Support to staff engaged in volunteering

When it came to local authorities supporting their staff in volunteering there appeared to be very little significant financial provision made. Less than 0.5 million was estimated as having been spent by local authorities in this area.

Other public sector support for volunteering

It was estimated that the police forces in England, Wales and Scotland spent 15 million a year in support of special constables.
The total direct health authority support for volunteering was estimated to be 28 million. This included support for volunteer bureaux as well as for volunteering within NHS Trusts.
The estimated support for volunteering in fire authorities was 0.4 million per year.
Training and enterprise councils were estimated to spend 4 million a year on the provision of training on volunteering issues and volunteering related conferences and networks.
An estimated 35 million of National Lottery money went on support for volunteering.

Conclusion

This survey provides a useful snapshot of the level and nature of public sector support for volunteering. It is particularly useful in showing the range of means by which government can help to facilitate voluntary activity.

The fact that many public bodies, especially at a local level, were unable to provide figures on their support for voluntary activity indicates a lack of awareness of, and interest in, volunteering in the public sector. Figures were generally available on the funding given to voluntary organisations but not on support for volunteering.

Despite its limitations the survey provides a useful indicator of the scale of public support for volunteering. Around a half of the headline figure of 400 million goes directly on the promotion and development of volunteering. The other half is indirect support that arises out of funding for voluntary organisations which will, to varying degrees, involve volunteers in their work. Local government emerged as the main backer of volunteering, with 80 million per annum going towards the support and development of voluntary activity, largely through support given to local volunteer bureaux and in-house volunteers. Much of the 50 million spent by central government on volunteering went to support national and international volunteer programmes run by voluntary organisations, such as VSO, or by the government itself, as in the case of the Millennium Volunteers initiative.

This survey also enables an assessment to be made of the economic return gained from investing in volunteering. Based on the estimates from this study and figures on the economic value of volunteering it is calculated that for the 400 million spent on volunteering there is a notional economic return of 12 billion. So for every 1 spent by the public sector on volunteering there is an economic payback of 30. This figure highlights the enormous economic significance of volunteering and the importance of government investment to enable the full benefits to be realised.