Volunteering Landscape in C&P

Volunteers play a crucial role in health and social care by, for example, helping to improve patient experiences, building a closer relationship between services and communities, along with tackling health inequalities. However, since Covid-19 we have seen a decline in volunteers, despite the initial boom in informal volunteering at the beginning of the pandemic. Research indicates the reasons for this decline vary but changing working patterns and economic pressures are some of the reasons identified nationally. The aim of this research is to therefore examine the barriers towards volunteering and identify ways to strengthen the volunteering landscape in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (C&P).

How can the volunteering landscape in C&P be strengthened to best meet health, community, and social care needs? 

The five objectives that guide this research are:
i) To undertake a scoping literature review that examines the motivations and benefits of volunteering and the reasons for its marked decline in recent years.
ii) To examine how volunteers’ motivations, recruitment and retention in C&P has evolved since Covid-19.
iii) To investigate individual barriers towards volunteering and identify ways to strengthen and broaden the volunteer demographic.
iv) To explore the individual and wider benefits of volunteering and its potential role in improving health outcomes.
v) To examine employers in C&P relationship with voluntary organisations and volunteering and identify ways to enhance its value and opportunities for employers.
vi) To synthesise learning from the above objectives to inform future C&P Integrated Care System strategies and approaches to support the future sustainability and role of the regions volunteering workforce.