A collaborative of national charities have urged the Prime Minister to support 35 hours of employee volunteering. Is this pie in the sky or a much needed conversation starter?
This month (March 2025) we reach five years on from the pandemic. A recent government report found that volunteering rates are ‘still failing to reach pre-pandemic levels’. The Community Life Survey, (published December 2024) reported that in 2023/24, 16% of respondents had taken part in formal volunteering (defined as giving unpaid help to clubs, groups or organisations) at least once a month, which is a decline from the rate recorded in pre-pandemic year (2019-20), when the rate was 23%.
NCVO has said that ‘financial constraints remain a significant barrier to volunteering’, stating that: “Findings from Time Well Spent show that 14% of respondents were discouraged by concerns about out-of-pocket expenses. 10% said they would participate if these costs were covered.”
By contrast, there has been an increase in employee volunteering (EV). Works4U found that employers organising volunteering for their staff had increased from 9.6% in 2019 to 51% three years later. With this in mind, it’s frustrating to read that a quarter of employees are unaware that work place volunteering opportunities exist. (Civil Society). So whilst employee volunteering has increased, more could be done to raise its profile – despite EV schemes being in existence, these weren’t widely promoted.
Bring focus and value to employee volunteering
This week a group of national charities have written to the Prime Minister urging for ‘the introduction of 35 hours of paid statutory volunteering leave per year’ . The letter (quoted here, Civil Society) reads:
“Volunteering leave is already a key part of many workplaces, so legislating for it more widely would help raise that standard of experience for all employees across the country and be a powerful demonstration of the government’s commitment to enabling and empowering civil society.
We therefore call for the government to commit now to the introduction of 35 hours per year of paid statutory volunteering leave, potentially combined with a volunteering levy, as part of its wider programme to empower civil society, and succeed in its five core missions.”
Will this will galvanize conversations and move the contribution that employee volunteering can bring higher up on the agenda?
