Volunteering – To volunteer or not to volunteer – that is the question!

Hampshire County Council in partnership with Hampshire CVS Network and the University of Winchester wants to find out more about Hampshire residents’ attitudes to volunteering and informal help-giving, particularly in relation to supporting older people.

Councillor Liz Fairhurst, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health, explains: “The county’s voluntary and community organisations do the most amazing work to support local people, on a wide range of issues.  As a Local Authority we provide some £850,000 each year to support those working with vulnerable adults, but we are conscious that to be able to continue doing good work, organisations need to be able to steadily recruit reliable, enthusiastic volunteers. We want to be able to support them with this, helping to build resilient communities. Understanding the public’s views, whether people are actively involved in volunteering or not, is a very important first step.”

The public survey asks for feedback on:

• Whether there are particular types of volunteering opportunities that attract people more than others
• More generally, what might attract people to volunteering
• The barriers that would prevent someone from becoming a volunteer
• The support might people need to help them to step forward
• Whether people would want to access support from volunteers, and if so, how would they wish to do this?

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete, and is open now for adults of all ages to respond.  The survey closes on Saturday, 30 November 2019.

The County Council and partners are also keen to get the views of community organisations, on how they currently deploy volunteers, and what future demand for volunteers might look like.

Tim Houghton, Chief Executive of Community First, on behalf of Hampshire CVS Network, said: “We are keen to understand more about why people help each other and what could encourage more people to provide help to their friends and neighbours.  Demand for volunteers in all areas is growing, and by working with the County Council to pinpoint the opportunities available, as well as understanding in more detail, what may prevent people from getting involved, we will be in a much better position to help the sector to flourish and grow.”

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