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Conservatives propose volunteer vouchers

Finance | 1 Feb 2007

The Conservative party has announced a new approach to tackle what it calls the selfish society. Cheryl Gillan, shadow cabinet member, has floated the idea of volunteering vouchers and submitted the policy proposal to the Social Justice Policy Group. 

Under the proposals, volunteering vouchers would give people who do voluntary work some influence over how public money is allocated to charities and voluntary organisations. Gillan claims that this would not represent an increase in spending, but a reallocation of existing funding. Rather than the state controlling this money, Conservatives believe that individuals and communities should be in charge of it.

In her speech, Gillan said: 'One of the trickiest challenges for us is to find ways of increasing state funding of charities and other independent organisations, without at the same time increasing the power of the state and diminishing the independence of the organisations we are funding. A possible way of doing this is to ensure that some of the money the state spends on the voluntary sector is allocated by citizens themselves, rather than by government officials with all sorts of strings attached.'

Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, executive director of CSV, said that the challenge of such a voucher scheme would be the likelihood that donkey sanctuaries and cancer research would benefit hugely. 'Much needed volunteer support for mental health service users, young offenders, abused children and frail older people might suffer as a result. The administrative cost might well exceed the funds available.'

A spokesperson for Volunteering England warned that 'a Pop Idol approach to funding would threaten the entire nature of volunteering and the voluntary sector'.

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Directory: Volunteering England
Who's Who: Dame Elisabeth Hoodless