NCVO and Volunteering England have completed their merger and will become one organisation on 1 January 2013.

The new organisation will be called NCVO with Sir Stuart Etherington as its chief executive. Volunteering England CEO Justin Davis Smith will become executive director of volunteering and development of a new volunteering directorate within NCVO.

There will be no redundancies as a result of the merger, with all Volunteering England staff transferring to NCVO - both organisations are already based in the same building at Regent’s Wharf, along with Acevo. Volunteering England’s 1,800 members will join NCVO, bringing its membership to just under 10,000.

Both organisations sustained staff losses and sharp income drops after the Cabinet Office halved their strategic partner grants in 2011. Volunteering England lost more than half its workforce in the 2011/12 financial year, as its income plunged by over 50 per cent from £5.5m to £2.7m, while NCVO lost around a third of its staff in the 2011/12 financial year, as its income plummeted by 27 per cent to just under £7.4m.

Commenting on the merger, Martyn Lewis, chair of NCVO, said: "Our members are at the forefront of building a better society. By coming together, we will be a stronger voice than ever for volunteering and the voluntary sector. I'd like to pay tribute to trustees and staff from both organisations whose tough, but always friendly, negotiations made this merger possible."

NCVO has also announced that it will extend its threshold for free membership from organisations with an annual income under £10,000 to organisations with an annual income under £30,000.

Lewis said: “I'm particularly pleased that we are able to extend free membership to even more small charities today, many of which rely extensively on volunteers. NCVO is determined to provide the best support possible in what continues to be a challenging time.”