The government has no plans to introduce paid statutory volunteering leave, despite a charity-led campaign to do so.
In February, four national charities wrote a joint letter to prime minister Keir Starmer, urging him to introduce 35 hours per year of paid statutory volunteering leave.
The signatories, including Sea Cadets, Girlguiding, St John Ambulance and Scouts as well as cross-party MPs, said the move would help at-risk local charity services “stifled by the lack of their key resource”.
However, the government did not commit to introducing any volunteering leave legislation in its response and Civil Society understands it has no plans to do so.
Meanwhile, over 12,000 have signed Scouts’ petition for the right to request up to 35 hours of paid volunteer leave each year.
The case for legislation
In their letter, the charities said “the number of people volunteering has fallen to a record low” and that without more volunteers, these local services are at risk.
They argued that statutory volunteering leave would “unlock charities’ abilities to make a difference” as well as offering employees the “breathing space to discover and engage in volunteering”.
“This simple act could also create avenues for funding the sector without further imposition on government finances, for example, supplementing a leave policy with a volunteering levy for those who aren't able to take part,” they said.
“This could be modelled on the apprenticeship levy, which means that broadly speaking, large employers who didn't offer this volunteering leave would instead need to pay into a common pot to help support volunteering across the country.
“Affordability for smaller businesses could also be addressed through a right to request statutory volunteer leave.”
DCMS: Matter is for individual employers
In her written response, seen by Civil Society, charities minister Stephanie Peacock said the government wants “to encourage and enable as many people as possible to be involved in delivering positive change in their local areas”.
In relation to volunteering leave, Peacock said the government “encourages employers to introduce volunteering leave as part of their employee benefits package”.
“Employees have a day one right to request flexible working, which can support people to balance work with volunteering.
“This government is bringing in changes to flexible working through the employment rights bill which should make that easier, by making flexible working the default, except where it isn’t reasonably feasible.
“This will make it easier for employees to access flexible working options to help balance work with their personal lives and responsibilities, including volunteering.”
She added that employees already have the right to “reasonable time off work to carry out specified public duties”, including those of a magistrate and school governor.
“Businesses of all sizes need to balance how they operate, therefore time off work for other voluntary duties is a matter for individual employers.”
‘Essential services face real risks’
Guy Holloway, chief executive of Sea Cadets, told Civil Society: “Volunteers are the heartbeat of our communities, yet numbers have declined sharply since the pandemic.
“Introducing statutory volunteering leave, backed by a levy modelled on the apprenticeship scheme, would provide sustainable support at no extra cost to the public purse.
“Without it, essential services face real risks.”
A spokesperson for Scouts said: “The minister has connected us with officials in her department to discuss the policy ask.
“We’ll follow this up again before Christmas by talking with the civil servants.”
