Volunteering provides services to others and role models to young people. Organisations like the Scout Association, the National Trust and mountain rescue are reliant on huge volunteer workforces. In recent years, volunteers have also stepped in to maintain public services: half of Sheffield’s libraries are now run by volunteers. As well as the benefits to society, volunteering contributes to the well-being of the volunteers themselves and is a form of altruism.
However, volunteering in the UK has declined since 2013/14 to the lowest levels recorded yet.
There are several reasons for this. Firstly, we live in a more individualistic society. The bonds between groups with unequal power represented by the powerful helping the disadvantaged, have declined, causing a reduction in ‘social capital’, especially ‘linking social capital’.
Secondly, since 1979 there has been a considerable increase in inequality. Greater inequality is associated with low levels of social and institutional trust and more negative social and health outcomes. Across Europe, the most equal countries have the highest levels of volunteering. For example, Denmark has high levels of volunteering and generalised trust.
Government policy determines the level of equality and sets the moral climate for volunteering. The post-war Labour government policy was based on the values in the 1942 Beveridge report which informed the development of the welfare state and underpinned a vision of a better society. This policy expressed mutual solidarity or a feeling that ‘we are all in it together’. In contrast, the 1979 Conservative government based economic and social policy on the assumption that self-interest expressed in the ‘free market’ would achieve the optimum result for everybody and that the role of the state should be minimised. Solidarity was undermined by a belief in a meritocracy in which merit is associated with wealth. This denigrates the personal attributes of the least wealthy and divides society into ‘them’ and ‘us’. Rather than being ‘all in it together’, we are competing against each other.
This is reflected in the replacement of moral values by monetary values. Altruism, and an obligation to be an active and responsible citizen, are replaced by a calculation of ‘what’s it worth’.
The third reason for a decline in volunteering is a real, or perceived, lack of time because time is spent competing for economic position and status. The most genuinely time-poor groups are households with children, those where both partners work and those whose work demands a lot of their time. More opportunities to use time means more time spent choosing between different options. In the last ten years, social media has also successfully competed for people’s time as its business model is to capture as much of the user’s attention as possible to maximise advertising revenue and build up a marketing profile.
These reasons for the decline in volunteering are connected. Reversing this decline requires political leadership directed by a vision of a ‘better’ society. Greater equality could foster mutual trust and respect, which would reduce the need to compete for market position and status. We need to disassociate merit from wealth and build social values to the regulation of capitalism so the market economy can be harnessed to achieve the sort of society we want. A sense of fairness and social solidarity would nurture linking social capital while time pressures could be reduced by regulation of working hours, increased wages and reductions in housing costs to allow families to achieve an acceptable standard of living on one wage or a reduced joint income. The penalty women take to their careers because of parenthood should be removed. Social media needs to be regulated so that it serves society’s needs rather than sucking up time for the benefit of the companies which own it. At the same time, citizens need to take responsibility for taking an active part in making society a better place and voting for the political party which will do this.
Will the policies of the new Labour government make a difference? Before the election, they were vague enough not to alienate voters. However, there were positive signs in Keir Starmer’s first speech as Prime Minister:
“Whoever you are, wherever you started in life, if you work hard, if you play by the rules, this country should give you a fair chance to get on. It should always respect your contribution, and we have to restore that. … We have to return politics to public service. Show that politics can be a force for good. … Your government should treat every single person in this country with respect. … We have turned a blind eye as millions slid into greater insecurity … 14 years ago we were told that we are all in it together. I say to the British people today, imagine what we could do if that were actually true.”
Let’s hope the new Labour government has the vision to deliver this and can get there.
Geoff Nichols is a retired senior lecturer from the University of Sheffield, where he worked for 30 years. He has published widely on volunteers in sport and founded the UK Sports Volunteering Research Network. He is an active volunteer in his local sports club and organisations promoting sports for young people.
This article is adapted from a discussion piece in Voluntary Sector Review.
Explaining a decline in volunteering in the UK by Geoff Nichols in Voluntary Sector Review and is available to read on Bristol University Press Digital here.
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