Government should honour its paid-volunteering leave pledge

Last week, CDF welcomed the new Government’s manifesto commitment to enable more volunteering through employers, especially if it meant more volunteering at a very local level. This was based on the findings of its new research, ‘Trust in democracy: how community groups bridge the gap between people and politics’ which found that community activity provides meaningful opportunities for people to get involved in society, often leading to more formal political roles.

The report found that the everyday issues that community groups experience, such as searching for funding, expertise or meeting spaces, often means that they have to understand how to influence local decision-making to achieve these aims.

Alison Seabrooke, Chief Executive of CDF, said:

“I urge the Prime Minister to uphold his manifesto commitment to give 15m people the opportunity to take three day’s paid leave every year for volunteering. Our research shows that the policy would be a big step in the right direction towards increasing community and voluntary activity, which plays a huge role in sparking political engagement”. 

As part of the research CDF surveyed its network of community organisations with nearly half (45%) of survey respondents agreeing with the statement “my involvement in community activity has made me more interested in politics”. A third of respondents also said that their community involvement led onto more political roles, such as a councillor, school governor, or magistrate. One even went onto become a Deputy Mayor.

To view the findings of ‘Trust in Democracy: how community groups bridge the gap between people and politics’ in an animation, report or summary document visit www.cdf.org.uk/trust-in-democracy.