Summary of the discussion that took place on 12 June 2024

The good news is that there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of young people coming forward to volunteer, which is very encouraging. However, taking on young people can have its challenges.

Managing the young person's expectations.

“The reality of a working on a ward is not like it is on the TV.”

DBS checks

DBS checks for young people can be difficult due to the lack of required documentation that they have available to them. Documents are required to confirm their current name, current address, date of birth and wherever possible a document containing a photograph.

What you are using:

• Bank Statements: This is also a good way of encouraging young people to open their first bank account if they haven’t already done so.
• Passports
• Provisional driving licence: To apply for a provisional licence the young volunteer would need to be at least 15 years and 9 months old. Apply for your first provisional driving licence.
• A letter from the head teacher at the school/college/university.
• Biometric residence permits.
• Buddy scheme, the student would not require a DBS as they will be under constant supervision. Using a volunteer as a buddy will also stop any use of staff time.

Alternatively, you are finding roles that do not require a DBS check. For example: working in a back office. However, one organisation did find that they needed to get a DBS check for one of the staff so that the young person could be supervised

Recruitment

Young people often volunteer as they are looking to meet other people. Explore and promote the social benefits of volunteering.

Most organisations favour working with local schools, colleges and universities.

• Students working towards a Duke of Edinburgh Award.
• Students on medical courses.

Speeding up the recruitment process

• The majority of young volunteers come via career fairs and open days at schools, colleges and universities. To speed up the process some organisations will go through filling in the application form, the ID process and the interview at the event.

Additional Training

• Communication training, for example ‘How to talk to an older person’.

Keeping students interested.

• Provide references once they have completed a set number of hours so that they can use them for their CV or personal statement when applying for a university place.
• If the young volunteers have a particular area of interest in your organisation, always try to support them and help them to make the right contacts.
• Ensure they have a great experience.

• They may wish to step down to concentrate on exams. Hold open their placement so that they can volunteer again in the future, possibly during the holiday periods.

Where can young volunteers be placed

Finding the right volunteer roles for young volunteers can be a challenge.

• In hospitals they generally do not go onto maternity and critical care wards. Over 18s can go into A&E.
• Hospices and other charities who have retail shops can offer a variety of volunteer roles in the shops and warehouses. They can also offer weekend volunteering.
• For those who are not interested in the clinical side, working in a back-office / estates office can give young people valuable work experience and open their eyes to more career opportunities in a health and care organisation.
• Meet & Greet and active response roles are popular with the students as they get to see and meet a wide variety of people.
• Collecting patient feedback and doing in-patient surveys on the wards. This could also involve entering the data collected for analysis.

Something different...

One organisation found that they were struggling with student reliability and accountability from the schools and colleges that they were working with.

So, 18 months ago they started working with two local schools and made some significant changes.

• Volunteering is now written into the sixth form timetable, so the students are released during the day.
• The students sign internal contracts.
• The expectation is that the students will be signed up by Sept/Oct and will guarantee 8/9 months' worth of volunteering and shifts are 3-4 hours.
• During the students' work experience week, the volunteer services team will offer talks on a diverse range of careers available within their organisation.
• The young volunteers tend to enjoy the response and runner roles are they are able to experience different areas of the hospital.

• For those who wish to volunteer on wards they will spend four weeks on an Academy Ward with full support. Once they have completed their training they can then move onto other wards.

They have seen a huge difference in the students seeking volunteer placements with the backing of the schools and by working with these committed schools, they have found that they are spending a lot less time encouraging students to come in to volunteer.

They start promoting the programme to the schools in June/July with talks about the vast range of careers that are available in the NHS.

The schools are invested to the point that next year they are looking to replace their work experience programmes with volunteer placements.

Find past discussions on Youth Volunteering in the Forum Library

Useful Links

• Webinar recording| Youth Volunteering: How attracting, supporting and motivating young people can help your volunteer service to thrive
• Age UK Wiltshire
• Resources Library
• Volunteer Role Library