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Baroness Neuberger’s first review of volunteering in the public services

10 March 2008

Baroness Julia Neuberger, the Government’s independent volunteering champion, today published her report, Volunteering in the Public Services: Health and Social Care. The report is the first in a series examining the role of volunteers in public services. It found much potential to expand volunteering in health and social care to create more people-centred services, and a better understanding of service users.

The report identifies a largely untapped source of volunteers in service-users. It argues that they could make an enormous contribution as volunteers in health and social care because no one understands what it is like to have a condition like a person who has it themselves.

Baroness Neuberger, the Government’s independent volunteering champion, said:

“Volunteering can create a virtuous circle, improving levels of well being for volunteers, professional colleagues and most importantly the people that use the services. In health and social care I found some excellent examples of volunteers being involved in services as well as significant potential to increase levels of volunteering in the sector."

The review's main recommendations are:

1. In-house ‘volunteering hubs’ should be established within government agencies to help mainstream volunteering in health and social care services.
2. When commissioning services, government agencies should consider the social benefits and true costs of volunteering.
3. Employee volunteering schemes should become commonplace throughout health and social care services.
4. A programme board should be set up, with a remit to increase volunteering in health and social care and ensure that volunteers are properly managed.
5. Both the government and charities need to make more of the huge, largely untapped, resource of service-users as volunteers.
6. NHS websites should signpost their users to peer group support websites, and to more general volunteering opportunities.

These findings will feed into a final report on volunteering in public services to be submitted to the Prime Minister towards the end of 2008, after which the Government will respond.

• Volunteering in the Public Services: Health & Social Care [PDF 133KB, 28 pages]