England

The Covid-19 pandemic in England in March 2020 followed a decade of challenges for voluntary organisations and volunteers created, in a large part, by policy choices and relationships – or lack thereof – of successive Coalition and Conservative governments. Most significant were cuts to national and local government funding which put severe pressure on the capacity of the sector to mobilise and inspire volunteers. With this backdrop, this chapter explores how volunteers and the organisations they volunteer with in England weathered the pandemic, pausing projects, innovating and forging new alliances to meet the massive need created and exacerbated by the pandemic. It does so by drawing on research conducted with voluntary sector infrastructure bodies and volunteer-involving organisations in the public and voluntary sectors. The final substantive section looks to the future, exploring the current and upcoming challenges – bringing back existing volunteers, sustaining the engagement of new volunteers, promoting diversity and inclusion and, sustaining and growing collaborations – and how these could be met. Finally, the chapter concludes by reflecting on how the pandemic has both highlighted the strengths of voluntary action and the voluntary sector in England but also exposed the impact of a decade of limited policy attention and an associated lack of investment.