Time Well Spent: A national survey on the volunteer experience

Levels of participation

• Of those surveyed, most people (seven in ten) have volunteered through a group, club or organisation at some point in their lives, and 38% have done so in the last year (i.e. recently).
• Around half of recent volunteers have given their time to more than one organisation.
• Recent volunteers are more likely to give time frequently (at least once a month) than occasionally (less than once a month) to their main organisation; these frequent volunteers make up around one quarter (26%) of the people who took part in the survey.
• The average (median) hours of volunteering undertaken per month is eight hours.

Participation over people’s lifetime

• People most commonly move in and out of light volunteering throughout their lives.
• Those who are both consistently and heavily involved in volunteering over their lifetime are a minority (7% of all surveyed).
• There are indications that volunteers are getting involved at a younger age than they did previously, with 70% of 18–24-year-olds reporting volunteering at some point, compared with 35% of those aged 65 and over saying that they had volunteered by age 25. This may be partly explained by incorrect recall.

Who volunteers and who doesn’t?

• Participation levels in recent volunteering are highest among those aged 65 and over (45%). They are lowest among 25–34 year-olds (31%), and generally lower for people aged between 25 and 54.
• The most notable difference between those who volunteer and those who do not relates to socio-economic status, with those from lower grades much less likely to have volunteered recently than those from higher grades (30% vs 44%), or ever.
• Full time workers are less likely to have volunteered recently than those working part time, retired people and students. However, they are more likely to volunteer than those who are unemployed or not working who have the lowest rates of participation across the different working statuses.
• There are lower levels of participation among those living in urban areas than those living in town and fringe, and rural areas.
• Women are more engaged than men, but this is likely related to their working patterns.
• Variations by ethnicity or by disability are less marked.

This section looks at levels of involvement in volunteering through a group, club or organisation, and how much people give their time.

There is a spectrum of engagement, but most people have volunteered through a group, club or organisation (ie formal volunteering) over their lifetime. As seen in Figure 1, almost seven in ten (69%) of people taking part in the survey have formally volunteered at some point in their lives.

Around four in ten (38%) are recent volunteers, i.e. have volunteered at least once in the last 12 months. This represents similar findings to the Community Life Survey though some caution should be taken when comparing these surveys^[1]. (Respondents in this survey are 18+, compared with 16+ in the Community Life Survey. This survey also covers England, Scotland and Wales, whereas the Community Life Survey covers England only). A further 11% volunteered between one and three years ago and 20% at some point three or more years ago.

The remainder, around three in ten (31%), reported that they had never volunteered through a group, club or organisation. This is higher than some other studies, however, the comparison is challenging due to differing definitions of volunteering, and there is little other data on this area.

Around one in two volunteers give their time to more than one organisation.

Over half (55%) of recent volunteers had given time to more than one organisation in the last year: 29% to two organisations and 26% to three or more organisations. Lapsed volunteers (those who volunteered within the last three years but not within the last year) were more likely to have volunteered for just one organisation than recent volunteers (63% vs 45%).

An average (median) of eight hours of volunteering is undertaken per month.

Around one in five (22%) recent volunteers said they did not know how many hours they had given in the past four weeks. Of those that did recall, the average (median) time given was eight hours^[2]. (The median is provided as an average rather than the mean (which is 13.6 hours), as a small number of respondents reported giving a significant amount of time which skews the mean, therefore the median is a more likely reflection of the average).

This included a small number of respondents who reported giving a significant amount of time (including over 100 hours).

Recent volunteers are more likely to give their time frequently.

As seen in Figure 2, around two-thirds (67%) of recent volunteers reported volunteering at least once a month (ie volunteered frequently) for their main organisation^[3].

The most frequent volunteers, who volunteered at least once a week, made up 39% of recent volunteers. A lower proportion (27%) had volunteered less frequently than once a month (ie occasionally).

Those who had volunteered both in the last year and at least once a month (for their main organisation) made up around a quarter (26%) of the people surveyed overall. This is slightly higher than the 22% reported in the 2017/2018 Community Life data^[4].

Lapsed volunteers were much less likely to have volunteered on a frequent basis than recent volunteers and were equally likely to have volunteered frequently and occasionally (both 45%).

People most commonly move in and out of volunteering over their lifetime.

As seen in Figure 3, of those who have volunteered at some point in their life, over half (55%) said that they had been involved occasionally throughout the course of their life. This was more common than those who said they had been consistently involved (22%) or hardly involved (21%).

This reflects the dynamic nature of volunteering, with people moving in and out of groups, clubs and organisations, reflecting what is happening in their lives at different times, as highlighted in other studies.11

Volunteers are more likely to be lightly than heavily involved when they give their time.

More than half (52%) of volunteers described their involvement over the course of their life as ‘always light or more light than heavy’ – compared with a much smaller proportion who described it as ‘always heavy or more heavy than light’ (17%).

The remainder described it as something in between: ‘equally light and heavy’ (25%).

Recent involvement reflects a higher level of engagement generally.

Recent volunteers were more likely to have been consistently involved (34%) than those who had volunteered longer ago (10% of lapsed volunteers and 6% of volunteers who had given time three or more years ago).

Conversely, those who had volunteered further in the past were more likely to be occasionally or hardly involved, though this may be related to issues of recall.

Similarly, 23% of recent volunteers said their involvement had been ‘always heavy’ or ‘more heavy than light’, contrasted with 9% of lapsed volunteers and 11% of those who volunteered three or more years ago. The contrast was even greater among recent volunteers who gave time frequently (28%)

Those who have given time both consistently and heavily over their life course are very much a minority.

Looking at both the frequency and intensity of volunteering over the life course (Figure 3), the research identifies a very small group of volunteers who reported being both consistently and heavily involved over time (7% of the people surveyed overall).

This supports existing evidence that a small proportion of the population – the ‘civic core’ – carries out most volunteering. Research has found that 9% of the adult population accounts for 51% of all volunteering hours.12

Volunteers may be getting involved at a younger age than they did in the past.

Of those aged 18–24 year-olds, 70% reported they had been volunteers, either recently or at some point previously. By contrast, 35% of those aged 65 and over reported that they had volunteered by age 25.

This difference may be explained by inaccurate recall, as those in the 65+ age group were remembering something that happened potentially over 50 years ago. However, the difference might also indicate that people are coming into volunteering at a younger age than has been the case in the past.

Other evidence has shown that rates of formal volunteering among 16–25 year-olds have increased in recent years, possibly influenced by youth-focused volunteering programmes, the 2012 Olympic Games and a tough employment market.13

However, the latest Community Life survey (DMCS, 2018) data shows that recent volunteering among 16-24 year-olds who give time at least once a year are similar to overall rates for the whole population

We focus on variations across demographics among recent volunteers (i.e. those who have volunteered in the last 12 months), recent volunteers who have given time frequently (at least once a month) and those who say they have never volunteered through a group, club or organisation.

The variations are more marked within these groups at each end of the engagement spectrum, whereas those in between, ie those who had volunteered between one and three years go (lapsed) and more than three years ago, were less notable.

Those aged 65 and over are most likely to have volunteered recently.

As shown in Figure 4 people aged 65 and over were the most likely to have volunteered recently with 45% saying they had volunteered in the last year. Similarly, people in this age group were most likely to volunteer frequently (35%). In other data, including the Community Life Survey, a drop in participation is seen for those aged 75+ when compared with the 65–74 age group, which is not observed in these survey findings^[5].

The proportion of those who had volunteered in the last 12 months was lowest among 25–34 year-olds (31%) and generally lower for people aged between 25 and 54.

The most significant differences between volunteers and non-volunteers relate to socio-economic status and education levels.

As seen in Figure 5, people from higher socio-economic groups^[6] were more likely than those from lower grades (C2DE) to be recent volunteers (44% vs 30%) and frequent volunteers (30% vs 19%). Those from lower socio-economic groups were most likely to say they had never volunteered (40% C2DE vs 25% ABC1).

Among those who had volunteered at some point, those in socio-economic grades ABC1 were more likely than those in grades C2DE to say that they have been consistently involved (24% vs 19%) and that they have always been involved heavily or more heavily than lightly (19% vs 15%).

Additionally, those with higher educational qualifications were more likely to have volunteered recently than those with lower educational qualifications. For example, 48% of those educated to degree level or above had volunteered recently, compared with 20% of those with no qualifications.

This confirms what we know from other studies; those from well-educated backgrounds and higher socio-economic groups are more likely to volunteer. Indeed, the ‘civic core’ (Mohan and Bulloch (2012)) that comprises the most engaged (see section 3.3) is made up of people who are more likely to be from managerial and professional occupations and who have higher educational qualifications.

Unemployed people and those not working are least likely to have ever volunteered.

As shown in Figure 6, people who are unemployed or not working (eg no need to work or are unable to work) were most likely to say they had never volunteered (both 42%) and showed the lowest recent participation rates overall (both 28%) and for frequent volunteering (both 18%). People working full time were less likely to have volunteered in the last year (35%) than those working part time for 8–29 hours a week (41%) or fewer than eight hours a week (53%). They were also less likely to volunteer than retired people (44%) or full-time students (42%).

Those working part time (fewer than eight hours a week) and retired people were most likely to report consistent involvement over their lifetime (34% and 28%). Retired people were the most likely to say they had always been heavily involved or more heavily than lightly involved (23%).

Women are more engaged than men, but this is likely related to their working patterns. As shown in Figure 7, women were slightly more likely to be recent volunteers than men (39% vs 37%) and to have volunteered frequently (27% vs 25%). This seems to be largely explained by work patterns, as when we look at just full-time workers, part-time workers and the unemployed, we see no differences in the propensity of men and women to volunteer.

Across our surveyed respondents, a greater proportion of women than men work part-time (ONS, 2013) and, as seen above, part-time workers were more likely to volunteer. This may explain the slightly higher instance of volunteering among women. Men were more likely to say they have never volunteered than women (34% vs 29%) and men who have volunteered at some point were more likely than women to say they have been hardly involved throughout their life (23% vs 19%).

However, when involved, men were more likely to say their involvement was always or more often ‘heavy’ than women (19% vs 16%). It should be noted, however, that the differences are not very large.

Ethnicity has little bearing on overall propensity to volunteer. Rates of volunteering were similar for people who were white and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) with 38% and 36% respectively being recent volunteers; this was similar across individual ethnic groups as well as overall (Figure 8).

There is some indication that people from BAME backgrounds may be less likely to volunteer frequently, however low base sizes (provided in Figure 8) among BAME respondents, especially among those who are older, means the data is not conclusive (See note on BAME findings in Spotlight (2): on the experience of BAME volunteers (section 5)). Life course participation is similar between those from BAME backgrounds and white ethnic groups.

There is little variation based on disability overall, though some by age.

As shown in Figure 9, people who reported that their day-to-day activities were limited in some way because of a health problem or a disability (disabled people) were no more or less likely to be recent volunteers (39%) than people who reported that their activities were not limited in any way (non-disabled people)^[7] (38%). Disabled respondents were slightly more likely to be frequent volunteers (27% vs 25%).

However, these figures mask significant variation by age. Young disabled people (those aged 18–24 and 25–34) were more likely to have volunteered recently and frequently than non-disabled people of the same age, and older disabled people (55+) were less likely to have volunteered recently than non-disabled people of the same age. This could be reflective of the types of disability experienced by each age group or the different impact disability has on people as they get older.

People in urban areas are less likely to volunteer – but this is likely linked to their age profile.

Reflecting other data, people living in urban areas were less likely to be recent volunteers than those living in rural areas and town and fringe areas (37% vs 44% and 43%) (DCMS, 2018). They were also more likely to say they have never volunteered (33% vs 27% and 25%).

This is also reflected in involvement over the life course, with urban volunteers less likely to say they have been consistently involved than those living in town and fringe, and rural areas (21% vs 27% and 26%) and more likely than those in rural areas to say their involvement has always been light or more light than heavy (53% vs 48%).

These differences, however, seem to be at least partly related to the age profile of people living in urban areas compared with town and fringe, and rural areas. Urban dwellers are more likely to be younger, and therefore less likely to volunteer – indeed when we control for age in the data, the differences by urban, rural, and town and fringe are far less clear cut.

Levels of involvement are largely consistent across the nations, with some variation within England.

As shown in Figure 10, there were no significant differences between participation levels for recent volunteers between England, Wales and Scotland (38%, 38% and 41%). However, as shown in Figure 11, people living in the south of England were more likely to be recent volunteers than the England average (42% vs 38%). They were also more likely to volunteer frequently (28% vs 25%). People living in the North and the Midlands were more likely to say they have never volunteered (34% and 35% respectively) than the England average (32%).

It has shown that many people have been engaged in volunteering through groups, clubs or organisations, primarily dipping in and out over their lifetime.

We know that even more people are involved in informal ways of giving help, though this is not the focus of this report.

Below, we bring together some of our learning about the spectrum of engagement and what the research has found about who is more or less likely to volunteer.

However, it is important to recognise that people from all walks of life volunteer and what this spectrum does is highlight some general patterns rather than provide a definitive picture of the profile of volunteers and non-volunteers.

It confirms some of the issues that previous research has evidenced about the lack of diversity of volunteers and indicates that more could be done in this area. It also raises questions about engaging volunteers in the future (see section 8).