Charities ‘must make it easier’ for older people to volunteer

Charities need to do more to make volunteering opportunities for older people accessible and flexible, sector leaders said in Parliament yesterday.

Speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Charities and Volunteering, convened by NCVO, on volunteering in later life Kim Roberts, senior campaigns officer at the Charities Aid Foundation outlined a suggestion for a “post careers advice service” to help people “transition out of employment”.

CAF published research on the subject last year which found that many people who will be retiring soon are not prepared for it, would like to volunteer, but don’t know where to go.  She said: “There is a gap between what people are telling us they would like to do and what they are doing.” It is up to charities to “make it easier to volunteer” she said.  CAF has not fleshed out how a post careers advice service should look because “we are not the best people to design or deliver it” but Roberts that research suggested most people were in favour of it being funded by central government and then delivered locally.

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