The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has issued a London Economics report to monetise the economic and social value of volunteering in England.
GOV.UK writes:
This report examines the benefits of adult formal volunteering, which refers to giving unpaid help to groups or clubs by individuals aged 16 and over and aligns with the DCMS’s Community Life Survey (CLS) definition. The report estimates the monetary value of formal volunteering activity in England in 2021/22. During that period, approximately 12 million people formally volunteered at least once.
The report examines 5 strands of the value of volunteering:
- The replacement cost of volunteering, which values the benefits of volunteering by valuing the cost of replacing volunteers with paid staff.
- The wellbeing benefits to volunteers, which values the benefits of life satisfaction improvements for volunteers as a result of volunteering.
- The effect of volunteering on employment outcomes, which examines the effect of volunteering on the hourly pay, hours worked and the probability of paid employment of volunteers.
- The effect of volunteering on healthcare costs, which examines the effect of volunteering on the number of healthcare appointments (GP, outpatient and inpatient) of volunteers.
- The effect of volunteering on social outcomes, which examines the effect of volunteering on a range of social outcomes of volunteers, such as isolation, loneliness, and belonging to a neighbourhood.
