New fund to provide volunteering boost

A number of fresh initiatives have been launched this week to strengthen investment in volunteering and to help protect the rights of volunteers.

The Department of Health has launched the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund, which is intended to bring a new focus on volunteering projects in the NHS and social care by managing the grants system centrally. The fund replaces the Opportunities for Volunteering (OFV) scheme.

The fund will be managed by a new partnership including leading national third sector bodies, Attend, Community Service Volunteers (CSV) and Prime Timers working with ECOTEC.

According to the Department of Health, the fund’s central administration means it will be more thorough in promoting best practice for partnerships between the NHS, social care and third sector organisations. The fund also seeks to strengthen the bonds between local commissioners and third sector organisations, by evaluating the success of all funded projects and sharing new learning and good practice. Under the new fund model any third sector organisation can apply for funding.

Care Services Minister Phil Hope said: “This new funding system will offer more scope for national projects in areas such as obesity, smoking and young people’s health. It will make our money work harder by opening up funding opportunities to more organisations.”

Carolyn Hay, on behalf of the partnership that will manage the fund, said the four partners have a wealth of third sector experience and extensive grant management expertise. “We see this as a fantastic opportunity for all involved to build a positive future for volunteering in health and social care," she said.

The new fund will run concurrently with the OFV until 2012, to allow projects already being funded to run their course.  Applications for grants under the new arrangements will open in January 2010.

Volunteering England, the volunteer development agency, is meanwhile calling for evidence in January 2010 for its volunteer rights inquiry panel.

The panel has been set up with three objectives: to clarify the rights and protections that exist for volunteers and dispel employment myths; to promote good practice in the management and governance of volunteering; and to explore different models of redress when things go wrong.

The chair of the panel, Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs, said it had agreed volunteering should be maintained as an activity distinct from paid employment.

“Volunteers do have certain rights and protection under current law,” she said. “However, the over-riding concern was that volunteers did not demand equal employment rights but parity of esteem. This is as much about being treated with dignity, respect and fairness, as it is about proper management and good governance.”