Volunteers’ Week: the importance of volunteering

June 5, 2025

By Geethika Jayatilaka

This Volunteers’ Week, we say a huge thank you to all the incredible volunteers across our city. Your dedication, commitment and compassion make a profound and lasting impact on London and Londoners each year.

The week also acts as an important reminder that we can’t take volunteering for granted. We need to nurture volunteering if we are to rely on this vital source of strength for London.

The London Vision

The London Vision for Volunteering report sets out a blueprint for tackling the challenges of managing and recruiting volunteers. Volunteering is sometimes dismissed as merely ‘a nice to have’ rather than a fundamental foundation of a thriving society. The report estimates that the monetary value of volunteering in London is £35.9 billion per year, making it significantly more than a ‘nice to have’.

Beyond the financial value, volunteering is an important contributor to social cohesion and civic strength. It is an integral part of community, neighbourliness and belonging.

Lessons from COVID

When the COVID pandemic began, the importance of volunteering was laid bare. Five years on, it’s worth reminding ourselves how volunteers sustained so many of us during that challenging time.

During COVID, government research[1] shows that just under half (47%) of people volunteered informally[2]. This included keeping in touch with those who found it difficult to leave the house, as well as going shopping, collecting medicines or other essential items.

This represented a sharp increase in pre-pandemic numbers. Those who stepped up were motivated by a duty to do something useful, or to help others.

Volunteers also played a critical role in supporting the NHS. Over 750,000 individuals registered as NHS Volunteer Responders in the days following the Prime Ministers call to action[3]. They delivered medications, provided transport, and offered support and companionship through telephone check-ins.

Volunteers also supported the roll-out of the vaccination programme described as “the largest and fastest vaccination programme in NHS history – which helped to keep people safe in their communities, reduced the number of Covid-related deaths and relieved pressure on NHS services.”

Beyond the practical aspects, volunteers represented something hopeful and positive during those bleak days. It brought to life the motto about ‘looking for the people doing good’ during scary times.

Volunteering today

Perhaps predictably, post-pandemic volunteering rates are falling and are yet to reach pre-pandemic levels[4]. A recent large-scale Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) survey[5] highlighted that participation in regular volunteering is at its lowest point since data collection started more than a decade ago.

Whilst London’s rate is slightly higher than the national average, we still face the challenge of declining numbers overall.

Changing this trajectory will be challenging. This Volunteers’ Week, we need to step up as charities, community groups and statutory authorities. We must adapt to the challenges and pressures that act as a barrier to volunteering. We must think innovatively in how we engage with our communities to bring the joy and hope of volunteering to more people.

Together, we can nurture volunteers and enhance volunteering in London.