The sector has grown considerably since the beginning of the 1990s. Workforce in the sector has to be divided in paid staff and volunteers. It employs approximately 569,000 paid staff – equivalent to 2% of total UK employees. An estimated number of regular volunteers is 15.9 million (the equivalent of 1.3 million full-time jobs). Up to 23 million people will volunteer at least once within a given year.

Source: NCVO 2004 and VSNTO 2003b

Employment in the volunteer sector takes place mainly in the areas of social care, housing, health care and education

• 41.9% Social Work (other)
• 9% Social Work (residential)
• 5.9% Religious activities
• 4.2% Development and selling of real estate
• 4.3% Hospital activities
• 4.3% General, secondary education
• 3.3% Other membership activities
• 2.2% Primary education
• 1.6 % Primary special education

Organisations within the sector range from small community-based organisations with no paid staff to large charities with thousands of paid staff. Larger organisations often have specialist paid staff for different functions. About 31% of employees are in workplaces of 50 people or more. 33.7% of voluntary sector employees are in workplaces employing one to ten employees.

• 36% of paid staff work part-time, 64% work full- time
• 89% of voluntary sector employees are permanent
• 70% of temporary jobs are fixed term contracts

Source: NCVO 2004 and VSNTO 2003b

Gross income for general charities is £20.8 billion.

Income is concentrated in larger organisations - £9 out of every £10 is accounted for by those with annual incomes over £100,000

The GDP contribution amounts to £7.2 billion per year.

Volunteers contribute £25.3 billion to the sector.

85,000 jobs were created in the voluntary sector in the 5 years between 1997 and 2002.

Estimated number of trustees is between 650,000 and 1 million.

More than one third of UK charities’ annual £20 billion income comes from the government, which is the sector’s biggest single source of income.

Source: Prospects website 2004, NCVO 2004 and VSNTO 2003b

Approximately one in two organisations experience difficulty recruiting paid staff because of:

• few or no applicants 69%
• lack of experienced, qualified or skilled applicants 68%
• low salaries 46%

One in three organisations have difficulty recruiting volunteers. Reasons include: 

• people have no time
• low profile/not a popular charity
• competition with other groups
• difficult/specialised areas of work

Many organisations indicate that they anticipate strong competition for skilled staff over the next 2-3 years. However, some voluntary organisations are optimistic about recruitment in the future as they expect a lower level of recruitment, and the prospect of a less competitive labour market.

Source: Wilding, et al. 2003 and VSNTO 2003b

Occupations in which it is difficult to recruit are for example:

• development officers
• fundraisers 
• nurses
• training officers
• social workers
• development workers

Source: VSNTO 2003b

Skills gaps are less widespread than skills shortages. 

Skills gaps vary in scope, covering both management and wider organisational skills. Management skills are widely cited as a barrier to full proficiency. The ability to plan and organise is a key skills gap. The difficulty of addressing the volume of skills gaps has been made more difficult by the rapid increase in the number of employees in the voluntary sector. Most voluntary organisations are looking for multi-skilled staff.

Skills needs for the future include:

• management skills (such as planning and organising, project management and strategic planning) 
• team working and partnership working skills
• leadership
• fundraising skills

Source: Wilding, et al. 2003

The voluntary sector paid workforce continues to increase in number.

The voluntary sector is becoming more ‘commercial and entrepreneurial’. Many organisations are actually operating like small businesses. In addition, the mixed economy is driving some organisations to enter the market directly rather than simply operate on the margins and in areas of market failure.

Large organisations have managed to maintain income growth but small and medium sized organisations have seen their income shrink. Therefore, small and middle-sized organisations face the future with less certainty. However, a supportive political framework, high and continued levels of public trust, and recovery in investment values will help to sustain all organisations in the sector.

Strengthened competition exits amongst voluntary organisations and with service providers from the private and public sectors. In addition to that, potential blurring of boundaries between voluntary and the statutory sectors is expected.

Source: Moore and Witthames 2004, NCVO 2004 and Third Sector Skills Trends Project 2003