Volunteers under threat from rising cost-of-living

Owais Khan

October 30, 2023

Politics

One of the most significant and wide-ranging issues to face the UK in recent, post-Covid times has to be the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Barely anyone in the UK has escaped the effects one way or another, from rising energy and fuel prices, the climbing costs for the weekly food shop, impact to wage growth or a host of other issues. One sector which has been little investigated during this time is the effects on a critical part of the UK’s charitable infrastructure, itself especially heavily impacted by the current inflationary and impacted pressures - the country’s groups of volunteers.

To demonstrate how this often overlooked demographic needs additional support, we recently sought to spotlight this issue in our annual white paper.

The results of our survey of 1000 UK volunteers were illuminating, and deserving of attention by the wider charitable sector. We found that overall, one third of all UK volunteers were having to reduce their charity time commitments due to the cost of living crisis, in favour of additional demands on their time at home, or to spend more time in paid work. For BAME volunteers this became even more marked: 38% of self-identified BAME volunteers have had to reduce their hours over the last 12 months.

The National Council for Volunteer Organisations (NCVO) have been warning of an overall drop in UK volunteers for a while; this added economic pressure is clearly only making matters even more strained for those who donate their time and energy to non-profit organisations. We looked further into the areas which may be particularly at risk from waning volunteer availability.

While charities were the primary beneficiary of our volunteering survey respondents (at 44%), almost a quarter (24%) gave their time to community groups, one in five dedicated time to family initiatives, 18% donated their time to schools, 17% to religious groups, 12% to hospitals or medical centres, 9% to universities and 4% to advocacy groups. Workplaces are also not immune from economic pressure on volunteering: 18% of our respondents engage in initiatives through benefits programmes providing volunteering days to company chosen causes.

One third of all UK volunteers were having to reduce their charity time commitments Quote

When it comes to supporting specific issues by BAME volunteers in particular, certain areas stood out. BAME volunteers proved more likely to support a wider range of causes simultaneously, and also proved 11% more likely to give their time to childcare, 12% more likely to support food provision, and 10% more likely than the average volunteer in the UK to provide their time to both education and healthcare causes. All of these are critical social support sectors, areas already under significant pressure from lack of funding and facing greater demands as a whole from the cost-of-living crisis itself.

Our survey revealed that many volunteers often give much more than their time to organisations and institutions, covering their own travel costs, Wi-Fi use, mobile data, accommodation and even losing paid hours from their work to dedicate their time to supporting causes. Conducting this study has been vital for us as an organisation, to not only understand how our volunteers are navigating the current economic times but also to showcase how the sector as a whole needs to recognise the support this vital yet often silent essential resource needs from the institutions who benefit from their time. Our own volunteers are often young, with access to wider family support, but volunteers countrywide clearly aren’t in the same situation.

Understanding that being able to claim back travel, hotel, even Wi-Fi and mobile costs could be a benefit to this band of committed charity supporters, not to mention recognising that even those who donate their time for free are also facing significant pressures should be key for every non-profit and institution in the country.

Volunteers are an essential part of the third sector infrastructure, ensuring that charitable organisations can help wider communities and those in need. As the cost-of-living crisis stretches on into a second winter, as our research has revealed, this situation could make supporting the most vulnerable in society even more difficult, for volunteers and charities alike.