Delivering a Fair Deal for Volunteers: Why Volunteers are essential to Community Transport

Highly skilled and professional volunteers are the lifeblood of the Community Transport sector. Many drivers, passenger assistants, coordinators, and managers give their time to support their communities and work seamlessly alongside paid staff to ensure people can make the journeys they need and want to make, and across the UK volunteer Trustees and Non-Executive Directors provide strategic oversight and direction to ensure our network of Community Transport organisations are run safely and legally.

A recent survey from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives showed that volunteering increases skills and confidence. While most of our volunteers give their time purely to help their friends and neighbours, volunteering can also be hugely beneficial for the volunteers themselves. The survey results revealed that 34.44% of volunteers indicate that volunteering has ‘greatly increased’ their skills and 45.59% felt their personal development (confidence) had increased. While we may not have the resources to survey our members’ volunteers in quite the same way, we hear so often about the difference volunteering makes to peoples’ lives.

‘I just wanted to say thank you for Sue! She arranged transport for me to take (name) to respite.  I have to go with him you see because he can’t manage on his own. He can’t remember much now … I’m so tired but this is my choice, I made a vow, for better or for worse and I know he would do it for me. But, I need the respite and without Sue, I wouldn’t be able to do it.  When we couldn’t go because he’d had a fall, she arranged for the driver to drop us off some cake from your coffee shop.  I smiled so much that day because I knew you cared and I didn’t feel alone.  Thank you’

‘Being a volunteer driver is as beneficial to me as much as it is to the passengers. Since retiring and not having any relatives close by, I needed a focus so as I love meeting new people and I like driving it is the ideal voluntary solution for me. I have met some really lovely people with the most interesting stories to tell, and they are all so appreciative. It is lovely to be able to help people by doing something so simple as giving them a lift!’

For me personally, my ability to volunteer has fluctuated over time. When my children were younger and I had just been promoted, I had to give up my volunteering roles as I didn’t feel I had the capacity to do it as well as I wanted to. Now my life is a little more settled and my children are a bit more independent, I’m delighted to have just secured a new trusteeship – not only because I like to support others, but also because I know I am going to learn so much from the other trustees and the organisation I will be working alongside. The combination of CTA’s volunteering leave policy and hybrid meetings mean I’ll be able to flex my attendance, and hopefully make a really useful contribution!

If you’re working, you have caring responsibilities, or just already have a busy life, it can be difficult to make space for volunteering. Maybe you’ve never driven yourself, so you never thought transport was something you could get involved with; perhaps you worry you don’t have the right license; maybe you only have weekends or evenings free; maybe you are worried that you can’t commit enough hours to be ‘useful’ as a volunteer – we’ve heard all this and more from people who have found their way into Community Transport. With such a wide range of volunteering opportunities to choose from and operators in every corner of the UK, we’re sure to be able to help you find a Community Transport connection this CT Week. Get in touch with the team and we will be very happy to link you up with your nearest provider.