At our general networking session on 16 June 2022 there was a great variety of questions asked. Below is a short summary of the lively discussion that took place.

Question 1:

With the lifting of restrictions volunteers are now catching up on missed holidays and weddings causing a shortage of volunteers. How can this be resolved?

• Add into your policy and procedures a note about giving 2-4 weeks notice of holidays to allow you time to get cover.

• Contact schools and colleges to build up relationships and encourage students to volunteer during their Easter, Summer and Christmas holiday breaks. This will help to cover the longstanding volunteers when they take their holidays.

• Approach your local CVS - all that would be required is a little enhanced training for their existing volunteers to enable them to support your volunteer team.

• Connect with Healthwatch whose volunteers are really skilled and understand the local community support services.

Question 2:

How do you deal with the onboarding and checks for younger volunteers?

• Enhanced DBS and mandatory training (although tight) will take about 4 weeks. One of our guests encourages the course tutors to assist students with their applications which in turn helps speed up the process.

Question 3:

My Trust would like to approach the local jobcentre for recruiting volunteers but I have concerns about reliability and commitment. Has anyone got any experience or advice?

• Your local jobcentre should have a community engagement team. Make good contacts and build strong relationships with the team so they can get to know how they can help you.

• Be really honest with them and say that a volunteer needs to commit to at least 6 months.

Question 4:

When interviewing and inducting new volunteers is it better to do it as a large or small group?

• If you have volunteers going onto wards it is not appropriate to have large groups. A member of staff and two or three volunteers at the most. If you have too large a group you lose that individual relationship with the volunteer. Group interviews work.

• A Trust in the Midlands has developed over time a process where volunteers run the interview process. They are trusted volunteer colleagues who have gone through an assessment in order to take on this role.

Top Tip for recruitment

Be really honest with volunteers early on and acknowledge that from both sides volunteering doesn’t always work out. There’s a point where it may not be mutually beneficial.

Question 5:

Did anyone do anything really successful for volunteering week?

• One Trust had an article in the local press with volunteer stories. They found that after Covid they had a lot of volunteers but now the numbers have started to drop so this was excellent for recruitment, as well as letting the community know what volunteers do and hear about their experiences.

• Controlled numbers tea and cake sessions. One volunteer commented how wonderful it was to be able to re-connect with people. Staff were also able to come along and say thank you.

• A CCG set up an online event and invited VCSEs and a couple of volunteers to come along and share positive stories. Next year they will ask each VCSE to bring along one or two key volunteers with them to share their stories as this really added to the event.