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We are three months in to the Year of the Volunteer, but will its impact last beyond 31 December? It is hoped so as YV05, as it is branded, is part of something longer term and more complex than just encouraging people to do the shopping for elderly neighbours or helping clear dumped shopping trolleys from the local canal.

Within a few weeks Ian Russell, the chief executive of Scottish Power, will deliver his recommendations on creating a national framework to engage and encourage 16 to 25 year olds in voluntary work.


It is the get 'em young approach that appeals to government if they are going to create a new generation of "active citizens" - a term that dates back to ancient Athens where it was seen as natural to participate in the community at every level.

The government has allocated £80m to developing the voluntary sector's infrastructure and £5.4m is being spent on volunteer recruitment drives. It is hoped that YV05 will raise awareness of volunteering and increase the numbers involved.

According to the 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey, volunteering is worth £22.6bn a year to the UK economy. More than 26 million people in England and Wales take part in voluntary activity, contributing 1.9 billion hours - the equivalent of about one million full-time workers.

Government ministers speak of voluntary work as underpinning a political philosophy of "civil renewal" where active citizens identify and solve local problems and improve the quality of life.

This concept of civil renewal has the backing of the Conservative party. Shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin said last year that civil renewal entailed building a more balanced society by restoring the voluntary sector to its proper position in public life. He thinks that voluntary and community groups need to take control of civil renewal as turning parts of the voluntary sector into "adjuncts of the state" diminishes the diversity which people can bring.

As part of its civil renewal programme, the Home Office last year launched the Civic Pioneers' Network of local authorities who are committed to engaging the community and giving power to local people. It started with six local authorities - Birmingham was the first followed by Rochdale, Ipswich, Sheffield, Plymouth and Portsmouth. There are now 15 local authority civic pioneers and the government hopes that every local authority will eventually join the scheme.

What sort of changes have they achieved? Birmingham is implementing a major restructuring of decision-making processes that devolves power to local communities. Ipswich has brought together representatives from council and transport and the local community, an initiative which has led to better lighting, footpaths, carriageways and changes to bus routes.

In terms of encouraging community members to actively volunteer, organisations such as Community Service Volunteers and Volunteering England will play a major role in the activities of YV05. Earlier this month the CSV launched its YV05 Big Knit project to highlight the work volunteers already do in knitting "trauma teddies" used by emergency services, hospitals and orphanages.
CSV chair Dame Elizabeth Hoodless agrees that to turn volunteering from an individual act of altruism into a weapon of social engineering needs a combination of encouragement and empowerment. "You only had to look at the tsunami - people saw there was a need and did something. The government needs to set targets for opening up schools, hospitals, prisons to volunteers - and then allow people to do their own things within those targets." But the Home Office says there is no specific target for increasing volunteer numbers.

Hoodless says that using volunteers as a resource can have a dramatic effect. She cites the example of the 270 GP surgeries in the UK where using volunteers to help with home visits to older people and arranging transport to surgeries has cut the number of prescriptions by 30 per cent. "If every GP had volunteers they would cut the prescribing bill by £2bn. How powerful is that?" And she feels that broadening the scope of volunteering helps forge new local links. "When a volunteer, perhaps someone who is retired, spends an hour a week helping in a reading class it can raise a child's reading level by a whole term. And going into schools is all about developing social cohesion - school might not be a place that the volunteer has gone into since he or she was a child. It breaks down barriers."


Justin Davis-Smith, deputy chief executive of Volunteering England, says raising the profile of volunteering is vital to ensure nobody is excluded. "There is a perception that only people from a better educational background do it."

So does it need more incentives, perhaps even more tangible financial carrots, from government? Not according to Davis-Smith. He says: "I don't think there should be financial incentives. If you ask a lot of young people about why they volunteer it's because they want to do something meaningful. There are also the added benefits of developing new skills, broadening social networks, making new friends - people have to know that it's not just about helping others, volunteers themselves get a lot out of what they do."

"What we do is not available through the statutory system"
Alan Barker has been a volunteer for the mental health helpline Saneline for five years. He has given more than 1,000 hours of phone advice, support or simply a listening ear to hundreds of callers. Typical callers include people with chronic depression, those who have tried to commit suicide and people who self-harm.

But at the end of March he will finish his last shift and along with more than 120 other Saneline volunteers, will be looking for something else to do.

Due to the loss of Department of Health funding the line, which receives over 1,000 callers a week, will have to close its offices in Bristol and Macclesfield, leaving only its London headquarters to take the calls.

"It's a great shame. What we do is not available through the statutory system. And it's not us saying that, it's the callers. People are going to find it increasingly difficult to find somewhere to go for help and support. We take more than one thousand calls a week and there are something like 12,000 callers who don't get through."

Barker, 62, who lives in Macclesfield, Cheshire, came in to voluntary work simply because someone suggested he should. "I was thinking about doing something as I had just retired. I had worked in the pharmaceutical industry and had an interest in mental health and then someone gave me a leaflet about being a Saneline volunteer when I was in the local Tesco car park. I went and did the five-day training course and have been doing it ever since."

The irony of his role on the helpline ending during the Year of the Volunteer has not escaped him. But has his experience put him off volunteering? "No, I will be doing something but I don't know what yet. I just think it's a great shame."