Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2022: employees, volunteers, diversity and investment in people – new report published today.

Third Sector Trends has been surveying the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector every three years since 2010. In 2022, 6,071 responses were received across England and Wales (an average of ~600 responses in each region). This is the only fully representative longitudinal survey which can produce robust and detailed comparative analysis at a regional and national level in England and Wales. This is the second of five reports from Third Sector Trends England and Wales 2022.

Employee retention and recruitment

There are about 200,000 Third Sector organisations (TSOs), about 40% of them are employers. The sector has a paid workforce of about 1.1 million people.

Over the last two years, 20 per cent of Third Sector employers have found it harder to retain staff and 43 per cent have experienced recruitment problems.

Problems with recruitment are widespread across England and Wales – but it is most intense in North East England (54%), North West England (48%) and in Wales (46%).

Recruitment problems are most severe in the largest organisations: 79 per cent of TSOs with income between £1million and £25million are experiencing recruitment problems compared with just 31 per cent of the smallest employers (with income between £50,000-£100,000).

Difficulties surrounding employee retention compound the challenging staffing situation many organisations face. Again, this is most serious in North East England (25%). Retention problems are most severe in the biggest organisations (53%) but affect organisations of all sizes.

Those organisations which deliver public services under contract for government departments or local authorities are finding retention problems the most challenging (27%), while TSOs which do not deliver contracts are less affected (15%).

One of the participants in the survey told us this afternoon:

“We have recently attempted a third round of recruitment for two vacant posts (out of 8 employees). In order to try to attract applicants, we reimagined the roles to allow for trainees as well as experienced staff. We received 25 applications for two posts, with 20 of them applying as trainees. We shortlisted 8 of these. 7 pulled out prior to interview, so we ended up only interviewing one, who was not suitable. So our vacancies continue. These vacancies are related to project grants and the funders are very sympathetic but the projects are unable to go ahead without the staff, which means that there is unmet service need. Very frustrating. We will be trying again in January 2023.”

Reliance on regular volunteers

There are about 4.3 million regular volunteers working in the Third Sector. In workload terms, this is equivalent to 190,000 full-time equivalent employees.

Many organisations are facing challenges in sustaining the energy produced by volunteers. Over a quarter of organisations (26%) have been losing volunteers who joined them during the Coronavirus pandemic.  41 per cent of the biggest organisations (income £1million – £25million) are losing these volunteers compared with 18 per cent of the smallest TSOs (income below £10,000).

The composition of the volunteer workforce has been changing in the last two years.

• Nearly half of organisations (48%) state that it has been harder to hold on to older volunteers.
• A fifth of TSOs (20%) say that they now have more volunteers aged under 30.
• Just over a fifth of organisations (22%) report that their voluntary workforce has become more ethnically diverse.

Sustaining support from trustees is vital for organisations: but 17 per cent of organisations report that the number of trustees has fallen over the last two years. Trustee numbers have fallen most in North East England, East of England, South West England and in Wales (all with net losses of trustees between 3-5%).

Regular volunteers produce about one fifth of the ‘energy’ that the Third Sector injects into its work. And in micro and small organisations, volunteers put in all or most of that energy.

• 80 per cent of organisations say that they rely mainly on volunteers who can commit time on a very regular basis.
• Over three quarters of TSOs rely on volunteers who can work unsupervised. Reliance on regular volunteers who can work unsupervised is stronger in organisations based in more affluent areas (83%) than in the poorest areas (64%).
• 85 per cent of organisations state that they could not keep going without regular volunteers.
• 65 per cent of regular volunteers are reported to be service users and beneficiaries.

Diversity in sector leadership

In recent years, concerns have been widely expressed about equal access to leadership opportunities in the Third Sector for all members of the community who feel that they have a contribution to make.

Until now, debate has been hampered by a lack of reliable data on diversity and inclusion in Third Sector leadership.

• In England and Wales, university graduates constitute 70 per cent of chairs of boards and 63 per cent of chief officers.
• A majority of chairs are men (55%) but there are more women chief officers (62%).
• 10 per cent of chairs consider themselves to have a disability compared with 8 per cent of chief officers.
• About 8 per cent of chairs and 10 per cent of chief officers are Black, Asian or from other ethnic minorities.
• Nearly 60 per cent of chairs are retired.

There are some indications of improvement to diversity in leadership since 2019.

• The percentage of women chairs has increased from 43 to 46 per cent.
• Chairs with disabilities have increased from 9 to 12 per cent.
• Black, Asian and other minority ethnic chairs have risen from 6 to 8 per cent.
• The proportion of graduate chairs has also increased from 64 to 70 per cent – suggesting that leadership opportunities for non-graduates at board level have worsened.

There has also been change in the population of chief officers of organisations.

• The percentage of graduate chief officers has fallen slightly from 70 to 66 per cent.
• The percentage of women chief officers has fallen from 65 to 62 per cent.
• The percentage of chief officers with disabilities has risen from 7 to 10 per cent.
• The proportion of Black, Asian and other ethnic minority group chief officers has risen only very slightly from 8 to 9 per cent.

Regional variations in the proportion of Black, Asian and other ethnic minority chief officers tend to reflect local demographics. However, London stands out from other all areas where 26 per cent of organisations have Black, Asian and other ethnic minority chief officers compared with an average of just 8 per cent across England and Wales.

Investing in people

The energy that Third Sector organisations can employ to achieve their social objectives is dependent upon the enthusiasm, skill and commitment of volunteers and employees.

Attracting and retaining people to work in organisations may be affected by the quality of the working environment and organisational commitment to training and personal development opportunities.

Overall provision of support for staff and volunteers is quite limited.

• Only 45 per cent of organisations have a dedicated training budget.
• 29 per cent of organisations provide digital training.
• Fewer than 60 per cent of organisations offer flexible working and
• Just 53 per cent of organisations make provision to support personal development.

But underlying factors help to explain why overall investment in people appears to be quite low. Organisational size makes a big difference. Only 16 per cent of micro organisations (income below £10,000) hold a training budget compared with 91 per cent of the biggest (income £5million – £25million).

The extent of investment in training and personal development is strongest in organisations based in the least affluent areas – where organisations tend to be larger and are more likely to be involved in public service delivery for local authorities or national government departments or delivering major grant-funded social programmes.

During the pandemic, there was much news coverage about organisations embracing digital technologies to shift services online.

But investment in digital training is limited. Fewer than 46 per cent of medium-sized organisations (income £50,000 – £250,000) provide digital training and even amongst the biggest organisations (income £1million – £25million), only 72 per cent do so.

Reacting to the news Rob Williamson, Chief Executive of the Community Foundation said:

“We have seen issues of recruitment across many sectors in the UK, the NHS perhaps being the highest profile, but it is clear it is hitting the charitable sector hard too and our communities will suffer. The last three years have seen the sector step up to support the most vulnerable in our communities, first during covid and now the cost-of-living crisis, but they are burnt out and many are leaving. With increased costs and reduced funding, organisations aren’t always able to pay high enough wages to attract staff. We and many other funders are looking at how we can support them to raise wages and cover costs. Our cost-of-living fund is supporting organisations over the winter to do that – but more needs to be done” 

The report’s author, Professor Tony Chapman, St Chad’s College, Durham University said:

“This is an especially difficult time for many Third Sector organisations with rising inflation, high energy costs and rising demand for services. About 40 per cent of Voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises are employers. Many of them are now facing serious problems associated with staff recruitment and retention. The report’s findings indicate that tackling the issue of traditionally low pay in the Third Sector is becoming an urgent priority.”

Sylvia Copley Chief Executive at ShARP (Shiney Advice and Resource Project) said:

“Here at ShARP we kept going right through Covid – that was hard but our funders were really helpful, and we were able to adapt delivery by moving to remote working so were able to provide telephone advice to people who needed it throughout national and local lockdowns. As we emerged from Covid we then saw this cost-of-living crisis coming and despite planning for increased costs there is now the possibility of a gap in our finances emerging, particularly for core running costs. As a Living Wage Employer we reviewed salaries about 18 months ago and moved pay for all staff above that level. But we now know that the cost of living crisis is going to hit us all impacting on the value of our salaries as things like travel costs and day to day living costs rise significantly. Our advisers will experience financial pressure along with everyone else, and whilst we can help with things like providing extra hours in the short term that is not sustainable in the longer term… we are having to reshape and expand services to meet  ever increasing need in our communities whilst at the same time we are facing rising costs for utilities and other core costs, have fewer volunteers to support us, and have a tired, depleted workforce many of whom have not had a proper break in two years”. 

The report can be downloaded here:

All other reports from Third Sector Trends can be found here: Community Foundation: Third Sector Trends.

John Mawson, Professorial Fellow of Policy&Practice, is to begin the next stage of research on a new French Government approach to urban development. This will involve a detailed case study of the City of Tours and its surrounding region in the Loire Valley. The research builds upon previous work which involved a comparative analysis of recent trends in urban policy in the UK and France.

French and British governments have been promoting cross-boundary, collaborative municipal partnerships. These initiatives were designed to achieve critical mass in strategic planning and the delivery of key infrastructure and public services (such as employment, housing and public transport) to their central cities and hinterlands.

In England, Mayoral Combined Authorities and in France Métropoles have been introduced to improve national productivity and growth, It is hoped that benefit will spread to more disadvantaged urban and rural communities in the wider city regions.

Policy and management developments have been assessed in a series of case studies across France, supported by a French Interministerial Research Agency (including the Tours case study). The study in Tours started in 2017 involving researchers from the University of West of England, the University of Tours, and politicians, practitioners and local community representatives.

Implications were explored at a national conference in 2019 and findings were published in 2020 in The Governance of Métropoles and city regions: territorial reforms, spatial imaginaries and new forms of cooperation*

Professor Mawson and his colleagues will be undertaking a five-year review of the effectiveness of the Tours Metropole. This will include appraisal of governance and evaluation of social and economic impact. The work will be supported by the European Union’s Erasmus Programme.

*_{Mawson, J., Demazière, C. and Hall, S. (2020) ‘Les Métropoles Francaise vues d’Angleterre: un jeu entre l’etat et les notables?’  Chapter 2 in Demazière, C. et al. La Gouvernance des Métropoles et des regions urbaines.  Inter Ministerial Research Programme.  PUCA, Lyon.}

Levelling Up the UK Economy: the need for transformative change, published by Palgrave.

Jonathan Wistow, Fellow of Policy&Practice and Luke Telford (University of York) have just published this new book on the ‘levelling-up’ policy debate. The official launch at the University of York is on December 14th.

The authors critically assess current policy initiatives about levelling up the UK economy by pulling together a wide range of evidence to provide insights about the agenda from macro, meso and micro levels of analyses. This includes qualitative data from a focused study with directors of regeneration across several ‘left behind’ local authorities and 25 residents of Redcar & Cleveland in Teesside. 

The book frames the debate against a backdrop of historical analysis and looks at the shift from post-war capitalism to a post-industrial and neoliberal society which has exacerbated spatial inequalities. Using empirical evidence from Redcar & Cleveland, the authors show how social and economic policy has exposed deindustrialising areas to insecure employment, crime and anti-social behaviour. And also has produced resentments about political voice and representation.

The book has received a very positive critical reception from highly respected academics working in this field:

“This excellent book provides a powerful, critical examination of Levelling Up, and grounds its assessment within a much-needed political economy perspective.  It traces the ‘left behind places’ problem to the nature and evolution of UK capitalism itself. Further, it goes beyond the usual aggregate statistical metrics used to measure and discuss the scale of the ‘left behind places’ problem, to delve into the lived experiences of those living in those places. By means of this political economy and qualitative approach, the authors rightly conclude that the UK Government’s Levelling Up programme is unlikely to deliver on its promises to transform economic fortunes and social conditions in ‘left behind places’, and may not even prevent geographical inequalities from widening still further. This stimulating book is essential reading for all academic scholars and policymakers concerned with the UK’s ‘left behind places problem’.” (Professor Ron Martin, Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography, University of Cambridge, UK.)

“Academics and policymakers alike need to read The UK Government’s Levelling Up Agenda by Luke Telford and Jonathan Wistow. This book is the most comprehensive qualitative study available on the ‘Levelling Up’ chapter in the policy history of local and regional economic development. Theoretically informed, interdisciplinary, and rich in policy nuances and political insight, the authors walk us through the rise and fall of this policy narrative. Rather than just leave things there, the authors conclude by offering an ambitious alternative path for our ‘left behind places’. This is social policy at its very best.” (Martin Jones, Vice Chancellor and Professor of Human Geography, Staffordshire University, UK)

“This is one of the most significant efforts to analyse the UK government’s Levelling Up programme. Not only does it brilliantly chronicle the moral, social and economic reasons for addressing geographical inequality, but it further details the transformative changes necessary to overcome the significant barriers that people in ‘left behind’ locales face in terms of gaining access to well-paid, secure employment. Recognising that spatial disparities in the UK are deeply entrenched and long-running, Telford and Wistow argue for a ‘phase shift’ in political economy that goes beyond the ‘sticking plaster’ approach to the present, which they suggest is unlikely to spread opportunity, revive communities and restore local pride. This book is likely to garner much interest from those interested in trajectories of inequality and the implications for place, people and government policy.” (Professor Julie MacLeavy, Professor of Economic Geography, University of Bristol, UK)

If you want to get a copy of the book, click here.

Dr Jonathan Wistow’s new book ‘Social Policy, Political Economy and the Social Contract’ has been published by Policy Press. Jonathan, who is a Fellow of Policy&Practice and Associate Professor in Durham University’s Department of Sociology, has produced a challenging and original study which promises to energise debates nationally and internationally on the role and efficacy of social policy.

The book has already received considerable acclaim: “Going beyond sticking-plaster solutions to economic and social problems, Wistow digs down to the deeper causes by examining social policy in the context of political economy.” Andrew Sayer, Lancaster University.

“In this important contribution, Jonathan Wistow shows how solutions to social crises have too often been forged while ignoring their complex structural economic and political roots. Social policy analysis, he argues, needs to be much more closely integrated into the wider question of political economy.” Andrew Lansley, author of The Richer, The Poorer.

Focusing on individual, intergenerational and societal outcomes related to health, place and social mobility in England, he draws on empirical evidence to show how the social contract produces long-standing, highly patterned and inequitable consequences in these areas. Globalisation and the political economy simultaneously contribute to the extent and nature of social problems and to social policy’s capacity to address them effectively.

Applying social contract theory, this book shows that society needs to take ownership of the outcomes it produces and critically interrogates the individualism inherent within the political economy.

Details on how to obtain a copy of the book can be found here.

Third Sector Trends 2022 first report: structure, purpose, energy and impact of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in England and Wales.

Third Sector Trends has been running since 2008. The study has been surveying the sector every three years since 2010 and as such is the largest survey of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in England and Wales.

In 2022, 6,071 responses were received across England and Wales (an average of ~600 responses in each region). Designed to complement NCVOs UK Civil Society Almanac, it is the only fully representative longitudinal survey which can produce robust and detailed comparative analysis at a regional and national level.

This is the first of five reports from Third Sector Trends 2022.

Key findings:

• There are about 200,000 registered voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises in England and Wales (including registered charities, cooperatives, community benefit societies, community interest companies, community amateur sport clubs and other non-profit making registered societies and businesses).
• Micro and small organisations (with income below £50,000) constitute 63 per cent of all registered organisations but only receive 0.6 per cent of sector income. The biggest organisations (income £1million to £25million) receive 72 per cent of sector income but comprise just 5 per cent of organisations in the sector.
• The sector employs about 1.1 million people, or 3 per cent of national employment. Employees provide about 80 per cent of sector energy while regular volunteers deliver about 20 per cent of sector energy.
• There are major disparities in sector distribution regionally. For example in South West England, there are 4.2 organisations per 1,000 population compared with 2.7 in North East England. In the most affluent areas the proportion of small and micro organisations is much higher than in the poorest areas.
• There are about 4.3 million regular volunteers working for VCSE organisations who deliver 312 million hours of work annually. If this work had to be paid for, it would equal £2.9bn (if valued at the level of the national living wage) or £4.9bn if valued at 80 per cent of average wages).
• The purpose and impact of the sector is hard to pin down because boundaries between different beneficiaries are blurred. Using broader clusters of activity, the report shows that:
  • 30 per cent of organisations say that they have a strong impact on improving personal health (including disabilities, physical and mental health), 33 per cent on social wellbeing (e.g. tackling social isolation).
  • 34 per cent of organisations say that they have a strong impact on community wellbeing, but only 20 per cent of organisations have a strong impact on financial security (such as poverty, homelessness and unemployment).

Many organisations cover more than one area of impact. For example, 22 per cent cover both personal health and social wellbeing. 8 per cent of organisations say they have an impact in all four areas of activity.

• The financial value of some sector activity can be measured – but much of the value of the sector’s work is ‘intangible’. But it is possible to give values to both types of impact. The value of the ‘energy’ the sector injects into society equals about £54 billion each year (that is the value of the time people put in to make things happen) – but the value added equals £191 billion or 3.2 times the injected energy.

Reflecting on the figures, Rob Williamson Chief Executive of the Community Foundation said:

“This first report clearly shows the importance of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in terms of size and employment in England and Wales. We already know the sector is the glue that holds society together by providing help and support to many in need but at a basic level it employs and pays tens of thousands of people and puts millions into local economies. Without it we would be poorer in so many ways.”

“The vital role the sector plays is why we at the Community Foundation have set up a cost-of-living fund to support organisations which may be struggling with the double whammy of increasing demand and increasing costs.”

Sarah Glendinning, Regional Director of the CBI said:

“Where both the private and voluntary sectors come together, both sides stand to benefit in spades. This report shows the huge value of the voluntary sector to the North East and the vital role it plays at the heart of local communities. Ultimately the deeper and more committed the partnership between businesses and the social sector, the greater the benefits for the region.” 

Rhiannon Bearne, Director of Policy and Representation, North East England Chamber of Commerce said:

“Once again this important study shows how and why economic and social impact go hand-in-hand. In the North East charities don’t just offer vital services and support for our communities: they contribute a massive £1.6bn in value, creating good jobs and helping create a strong economy. With a difficult winter ahead of us all the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland’s new cost of living fund will make a real difference to this vital part of our region’s economy.”

The report’s author, Professor Tony Chapman, St Chad’s College, Durham University said:

“Where the added value generated by the voluntary sector ‘lands’ is hard to predict. This is because the impact of charities’ work isn’t always immediate. A real strength of the sector is its ability to accumulate energy and value which is produced collectively by many charities.

Keeping things ticking over in civil society often nips problems in the bud before they become critical needs. Without that support, individual needs are undermined and the strength of community ties can fray. And in times of local or national crisis, such as in the Coronavirus pandemic or the current cost-of-living challenge, the latent power of the sector can be released to tackle problems quickly and vigorously.”

The report can be downloaded here:

The report does not include a detailed description of the research methodology. If you’d like to read in more detail on the methods used, please see this report (where there are further links to a report on analytical techniques).

We ask people who took part in the study to tell us how things are going once they’ve seen the report: Here are some responses (anonymised where necessary with [square brackets]).”I wonder if there is space to talk about how people running and working in the third sector often do so for several entities? I think for the financial impact element, this should be taken into account, as in terms of value this is often missing, The reliance on people who by nature, want to make a difference, and therefore end up doing several roles across organisations. This often is missed in studies.“

“Our organisation would fall into the category of semi-formal, medium sized TSO, as described in section 2.3 of the trends report. The principle challenge we have, is that we have historically relied on the leadership of a single dedicated individual to push the organisation forward. We are now in a position where the current leader is departing, and there is no replacement...

Recruitment has been largely unstatisfactory and unsuccessful because: a) The recruitment process can’t measure traits like long-term dedication and motivation. b) The previous leaders were intrinsically motivated—the pay wasn’t as big a concern. The “great resignation” phenomena has meant that less people are willing to go above and beyond and—rightfully—demand more for their work. In practice, this has meant the pool of applicants is much smaller/not there...

On top of this, several key non-management staff have left and cannot be recruited until our leadership position has been filled. As with the above, we have relied on the intrinsic motivation of long-term staff rather than employment benefits and pay. With our current budgets, we simply cannot match other organisations, so recruiting has been a serious obstacle for us. We have seriously questioned whether our organisation is viable in this new world. It will be such a shame to close because we are a specialised charity supporting people with learning disabilities, and one of the last truly local organisations in our area.“

“Our marine conservation charity has already engaged with more beneficiaries (almost 20K in 10 months) than ever before despite doing a lot less-organised face-to-face events. We are working smarter online which is essential if we are to achieve net zero targets set by government. Online activities make us more productive and efficient. As a result we are able to deliver more nationally and internationally.”

“Awaiting gas and electric bills. Water has already increased .”

“[Our] prime services are advocacy, entitlements and accessible travel and a walk in centre with peer support and volunteering. We recognise that in addition to this the societal attitudes and unconscious bias regarding disablement underpins many aspects of the lives of people with disabilities. We have had increasing difficulties funding our services that span a range of situations regarding disablement including carers. We operate a mix of referrals, self-referrals, word of mouth contacts and an outreach programme of regular connection with disability specific groups…

We have had extreme difficulty funding our services. One of the major factors post lockdown has been the impact from major and regional charities that serve specific disabilities. They all lost income in lockdown, through a mix of charity shops not being open, other fundraising mechanisms being paused and some shift of public donations towards endemic related causes and appeals. Their financial models seem to be that significant elements of their workforce were funded by this income generation…

“This has had a number of impacts, firstly much of that workforce was not core functions but rather outreach and support elements relative to their specific disability. They were the first part of the workforce to go and this has had an impact on end users. The larger charities ‘circled their wagons’ in order to survive. Post lockdown they are now looking to return to their previous structure.

This has led them to start of looking for funds from sources such as foundations and lotteries. This has created a number of imbalances for our charity. The larger disability specific charities have both marketing departments (which are specific and trying to boost support for specific disabilities) and can afford to employ the strategists, bid writers, researchers and fund managers to enter the competitive world of fund applications. Most of these charities deal with the specific disability and not the societal issues that span most disabilities. These charities, which operate as any business, are now busy competing with each other and smaller charities and there is a distinct imbalance of equitable access.”