Yorkshire volunteers contribute thousands of hours as care sector reliance grows
Care organisations across Yorkshire are relying on volunteers to help deliver vital support services, as new figures reveal a rise in people giving their time to community and care settings across the county.
According to the Government’s Community Life Survey, 16 per cent of people in Yorkshire formally volunteered at least once a month in the past 12 months, demonstrating the significant role volunteering continues to play.
That commitment is increasingly visible in health and care services. Latest NHS figures show that 764 people volunteered for the county's NHS trusts' community and care services in the last quarter of 2025, contributing 4,779 hours. This marks a 119 per cent increase in volunteer numbers compared with the same period in 2024.
Nationally, research commissioned by Royal Voluntary Service found that 6 per cent of UK adults are currently volunteering in a care home.
Ansvar Insurance, which specialises in insurance for the care, charity and not-for-profit sectors, is drawing attention to the data ahead of Volunteers’ Week (1st to 7th June) to highlight the growing contribution volunteers make across the care sector and the importance of ensuring they are properly protected.
The insurer is warning that as organisations become more dependent on volunteer support, there is a need to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place around training, supervision and liability.
David Eccles, Head of Distribution at Ansvar, commented: “Volunteers play a vital role in supporting care organisations and community services across Yorkshire – over 4,500 hours given in a single quarter is remarkable.
“With increasing demand on care providers and charities, volunteers are often giving their time to help some of the most vulnerable people in society. Yet unlike employed members of staff, volunteers do not always receive the same level of training, supervision or formal induction.
“While that support is invaluable, it’s important organisations have clear safeguarding procedures, appropriate risk assessments and suitable insurance arrangements in place, both to protect volunteers and the people they support.”
Ansvar points to three principal areas of concern for care organisations that depend on volunteer labour: ensuring volunteers receive adequate training before they begin their roles, maintaining robust safeguarding procedures that extend to unpaid workers, and understanding the extent to which their insurance policies cover volunteers in the event of an incident.
David Eccles added: “As volunteers take on more responsibility in care settings, organisations need to be as rigorous about volunteer frameworks as they are about paid roles. Volunteers’ Week is a timely reminder that valuing volunteers also means protecting them, and the people they support, properly.”