The Supreme Court ruled that laws designed to protect workers from discrimination did not cover volunteers unless they had a contract or were undergoing vocational training. The case had been brought by a volunteer legal advisor who alleged that she had been discriminated against because of her disability.
Source: X (Appellant) v Mid Sussex Citizens Advice Bureau and Another (Respondents), UKSC 59 (2012), United Kingdom Supreme Court
Links: Judgement | Cloisters press release | Cloisters briefing | Volunteering England press release
Date: 2012-Dec
A paper examined the determinants of individuals' charitable cash donations and volunteer labour in Europe, as well as the interdependence between them. A positive relationship was found between time and money contributions on the individual as well as on the country level: but individuals replaced time donations with money donations as the price of time rose. There were large differences in the patterns of donations, both across different types of voluntary organizations and across different welfare regimes.
Source: Thomas Bauer, Julia Bredtmann, and Christoph Schmidt, Time vs Money: The supply of voluntary labor and charitable donations across Europe, Discussion Paper 6701, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined what determined the decision to volunteer in sport in England, and the amount of time contributed to it. It identified significant variations in the volunteering rate by gender, age, ethnicity, education, income, and the number and age of dependent children. With respect to the time given to sports volunteering, there were also significant variations by gender, age, and employment status – but conspicuously not by education and income. A policy dilemma was that targeting those most likely to volunteer and give time would reinforce existing inequalities in sports volunteering.
Source: Peter Taylor, Thanos Panagouleas, and Geoff Nichols, 'Determinants of sports volunteering and sports volunteer time in England', International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Volume 4 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jul
A report examined the role of volunteering in the provision of social services.
Source: Catherine Wilton, Volunteering: Unlocking the Real Wealth of People and Communities, Think Local, Act Personal
Links: Report | TLAP press release | Charity Times report
Date: 2012-Jul
A report used the insights of behavioural economics to examine citizens' motivations for civic and civil engagement – focusing on those who were less likely to engage than the average, but who 'bucked the trend'. There was evidence that suggested that it was time, not money, that constituted the main 'cost' to getting involved.
Source: Beth Foley and Simon Griffiths, Engaging Behaviour: Behavioural economics and citizen engagement, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report
Notes: Publication of this report was delayed by the coalition government.
Date: 2012-Apr
A think-tank paper called for companies to be given tax relief on the value of voluntary charitable work done by their employees in work time.
Source: A Step Change in Giving: Monetising volunteering through the corporate sector, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Mar
A report said that charities needed to do more to make volunteers feel involved in shaping the values of the organization they worked for. Organizational values were used effectively in day-to-day work: but over one-third of charities did not involve volunteers in any stage of value development.
Source: Andrew Forrest, Ian Lawson, Luke Chaput de Saintonge, and Maggie Smith, To Practise What We Preach: An exploratory survey of values in charities, Centre for Charity Effectiveness
Links: Report | CCE press release
Date: 2012-Feb
A report examined volunteering in Wales, and suggested ways in which it could be encouraged.
Source: Volunteering and Citizen Involvement in Wales: Looking to the future, Wales Council for Voluntary Action
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jan
A report examined the factors affecting the initial decision by adults to consider volunteering with young people; the barriers and facilitators to entering volunteering once the motivation was there; and the factors affecting whether individuals continued to be volunteers.
Source: Mehul Kotecha, Gareth Morrell, and Lucy Lee, Engaging Adults in Youth Volunteering, Research Report RR189, Department for Education
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jan