Opportunities and future of volunteering co-ordination in LCR highlighted in new report

TeamKinetic, in collaboration with Liverpool City Region CVSs, VS6 Partnership and Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW), are pleased to present an in depth review of local volunteering responses in Liverpool City Region and the opportunities to develop a more resilient and sustainable VCFSE volunteering response for the future.

The new report, entitled “Embedding & Evaluating the NHS Volunteer Responders Scheme – Integrated Liverpool City Region Volunteering Platform” explores and aims to understand the requirements for integration of local and national volunteering schemes onto one platform. The benefits of which include having a long-term sustainable and resilient service for LCR with better two-way communication, local ownership, wider promotion of volunteering opportunities and a shared database of volunteers for more streamlined co-ordination.

TeamKinetic design bespoke volunteer management software to support VCFSE and public sector organisations to develop and retain volunteer workforces and communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, TeamKinetic worked closely with Halton and St Helens VCA to develop their volunteer system in response to the rising demand in both volunteers needed and number of people wanting to get involved in volunteering.

The TeamKinetic platform enables interoperability of local systems and national prescribed volunteer infrastructure including the NHS Responder Scheme, and ensures that volunteer management is aligned to local need.

Reflecting on the journey with TeamKinetic and developing an LCR-wide Volunteer System, Sally Yeoman, CEO of Halton & St Helens VCA said:

“Over the past 2 years we have been overwhelmed by the response of local people in our City Region who came out to volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have learnt how to make volunteering easier for people to do and how to best support and encourage people to give their time for local groups or causes. Supported by our local partners, we were able to lead this work on volunteering and with our plans to extend our work in this area we will be able to do more of that in the future.”

Chris Martin, Director of TeamKinetic said:

“The last 2 years have been like nothing else we have ever experienced when it comes to volunteering, and it has been truly amazing to see how communities responded.  It's been a fascinating experience, learning more about what motivates volunteers across the Liverpool city region.  Our hope is we can continue to maintain that motivation and the learning to generate benefits both locally and nationally from these wonderful volunteers.”

Warren Escadale, Chief Executive of VSNW said:

“Nothing shone brighter during the pandemic than the willingness to help each other. Volunteers were a huge part of this. Going forward, this report and it’s recommendations are how we can make taking action easier”

Following the success in Halton and St Helens each CVS in LCR is now working with TeamKinetic to develop their own optimised version of TeamKinetic, strengthening existing locality arrangements and to act as a local front door for volunteers and VCFSE groups. These platforms will allow the seamless sharing of volunteer opportunities and information, creating a large pool for volunteers to explore.

The VS6 Partnership will continue to work closely with LCR CVSs and TeamKinetic to further develop the LCR-wide approach to volunteer co-ordination taking into consideration the recommendations provided.

This report was commissioned by VSNW with funding from the Cheshire & Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. VS6 Partners would like to extend thanks to the Partnership for their support with this work.

To access the report, please click here.