London's voluntary sector raises £1.48 billion per year, of which some 42% (£620 million) is earned income. Recruitment and retention of paid workers, volunteers and trustees is a severe problem in London where 20% of the total sector paid workforce is concentrated. High workforce turnover is attributed to limited job security due to time restrictive projects and short-term contracts, movement to the public and private sectors and lack of skills.

There are urgent skills gaps in the voluntary sector including:

• management skills
• ICT
• fundraising
• professional, specialist and technical skills related to area of work

There is also a distinct lack of an organisational learning culture and a significant resistance to training, in particular:

• lack of accreditation particularly around specific areas of expertise
• no mechanism for non-accredited learning
• lack of suitable courses
• negative perceptions of NVQs
• lack of resources for learning support and travel
• concern about quality and relevance
• difficulties in evaluating achievement and impacts of training developments

Source: VSNTO 2003a and VSNTO 2002