1. Learning from the evaluation of the
Health & Social Care Volunteering Fund
‘Measuring the impact of volunteering in health and care’
, CSV and NNVIA conference, 20th March 2014, London
Jane South
Professor, Leeds Metropolitan University &
Public Health England

2. Acknowledgements
• The HSCVF evaluation was commissioned by
ECORYS (fund managers on behalf of DH)
and HSCVF partners- Attend, CSV and
Primetimers.
• Evaluation was carried out by a team from
Centre for Health Promotion
Research, Leeds Metropolitan University:
– Jane South [PI], Ruth Cross, Karina
Kinsella, Louise Warwick-Booth, James
Woodall, Judy White.

3. Volunteering – what we know
• Part of a ‘cluster of helping
behaviours’ with many
motivations (Wilson 2000).
• Associated with health and
social benefits for volunteers
(Casiday 2008; Jenkinson et
al. 2013)
• Scaleable but intensity varies
(Low et al. 2008)
• Social relationships and
networks are important for
determinants of health (The
Marmot Review, 2010)

4. Big questions
• What can volunteering offer the health and
care system?
• How do we capture the effects?
• How can we strengthen the evidence base on
volunteering to support commissioning and
practice in health and social care?

5. Department of Health’s Health and
Social Care Volunteering Fund
• Capacity building
programme – funds and
support package
• 2010 & 2011 rounds, 94
local and 13 national
projects based in VCSE
organisations
• For further details of
projects see:
http://volunteeringfund
.com/map

6. Local projects by funding theme
Themes %
2010 projects (n=43)
Addressing Social Care priorities 16
Health inequalities 21
Both themes 63
2011 projects (n=51)
Patient-led NHS 14
Delivering better health outcomes 12
Improving public health 26
Improving health and social care 49
Source: HSCVF project monitoring forms

7. Desk-based
Review
Workshops
(3)
Case
Studies –
2 national
6 local
Volunteers’ Views Survey
• 623 volunteers
• 468 online
• 155 paper
• 70 out of 107 projects
• 40% response rate
National
Interviews (9)
37-item self administered
questionnaire
Volunteers
motivations, activities and tasks
(5 questions)
Training experiences
(14 questions)
Volunteers background
(12 questions)
Benefit of volunteering
(6 questions)
Evaluation design & methods
107 projects - 94 local and 13 national

8. Volunteer roles
Most common volunteering
activities were (n= 623):
• befriending (45%)
• giving advice,
information, counselling
(38%)
• practical help (33%)
• visiting people (32%)
• organising or helping run
events (25%).

9. Who did volunteers work with?
Source: Volunteers’ Views Survey. South et al. (2013) An evaluation of
the Department of Health’s Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund

10. What benefits do you get from
volunteering, if any?
TOP 5 % (n= 570)
I really enjoy it 50
It gives me a sense of personal achievement 47
It broadens my experience of life 41
I meet people and make friends through it 40
It gives me a chance to learn new skills 35
It improves my confidence 27
I do not feel I gain any benefits 1
Source: Volunteers’ Views Survey. South et al. (2013) An evaluation of the Department of Health’s Health
and Social Care Volunteering Fund

11. Views about impact of projects in the
community
240
152
20
3 1
236
155
21
3 1
136
193
68
13
2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree
Percent
My project is making a difference in the community
My project reaches people with a lot of needs
I feel valued by my community

12. Contribution to health & social care
• Community outreach
• Diffusion of knowledge
• Power of peer support
• Caring, connected and
capable communities
‘I think when you are saying you
are a carer yourself, then you
just want to help other
carers, that barrier goes down.’
[Older People’s Budgets]
‘These volunteers are the first
step of knowledge about the
whole thing.
Midwives, Doctors, GP surgeries
don’t reach to that point. These
volunteers are reaching right out
into the community, and even
their families it’s wonderful.’
[Maternity Outreach]

13. Impact of volunteering on social
networks
392
196
2
19
306
287
2 12
341
253
1 16
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Increased Remained the same Decreased Don’t know
Percent
Network of friends
Neighbours and community
People from other communities/religious
backgrounds

14. Who felt more connected to their
community?
More likely Less Likely
• Older participants (60 and
over)
• Younger participants (16-29)
• Wholly retired • 6 months to 1 year of
volunteering experience
• Who volunteered between
1 and 5 hours
• Volunteered for less than 1
hour in the last 4 weeks
• Who volunteered for longer
than 1 year
• Those in education, carers,
permanently sick/disabled

15. Implications
• The HSCVF as a capacity buildng programme was able to
strengthen volunteering focused on health and social care
priorities
• Volunteer supply + health and social care need + reach
into communities
BUT …
• A unique offer so avoid unnecessary professional ‘creep’
and formalisation of roles
• Reversing the inverse care law needs some investment in
volunteering and VCS organisations

16. Strengthening the evidence base
• Examine the contribution of volunteers within a
local system – the value added
• Better understanding of the mechanisms of
change that lead to health and social care
outcomes, including reducing inequalities
• Share learning about models that work in
practice
• Ask questions about scale; reach; community
capacity and connections; quality of relationships
• Connect existing evidence and research

17. Working with communities –
empowerment, evidence and learning
A PHE and NHS England
project to draw together
and disseminate existing
evidence and learning on
working with communities
and supporting
community-centred health
and wellbeing
interventions.
17

18. Thank you
• Download the full report and summary from
http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/vfp/ under
OUTPUTS
• For further information please contact
jane.south@phe.gov.uk

19. References
• Casiday, R., Kinsman, E., Fisher, C. & Bambra, C. (2008) Volunteering
and health; what impact does it really have?, London: Volunteering
England.
• Low, N., et al. (2008) Helping out. A national survey of volunteering
and charitable giving, Cabinet Office, Office of the Third Sector.
• Jenkinson, C. et al. (2013) Is volunteering a public health
intervention? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the health
and survival of volunteers. BMC Public Health 2013, 13:773.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/13/773
• The Marmot Review ( 2010a) Fair Society, Healthy Lives. The
Marmot Review, Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England
post-2010, London, The Marmot Review.
• Wilson, J. (2000). Volunteering. Annual Review of
Sociology, 26, 215-240.