Category: News

The latest intelligence charting the voluntary sector's workforce since 2001 is now available in one place at UK Voluntary Sector Workforce Almanac 2013. Skills- Third Sector has been working with NCVO and the Third Sector Research Centre to produce this easy-to-use and accessible resource which draws on a decade of authoritative data to explore how the sector’s workforce has changed. The fifteen themes explore the main traits of voluntary sector employment, covering its size and characteristics, the nature of working conditions within the sector, and the levels of skills and training across the sector. Keith Mogford, chief executive of Skills- Third Sector explains why this resource is so important: "Charities, voluntary and community groups, social enterprises and their stakeholders need the best quality evidence base to help them inform policy and…

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) has published new research by Skills- Third Sector, Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) and the Third Sector National Learning Alliance (TSNLA), that provides a detailed picture of the third sector’s involvement in the delivery of learning and skills. The research provides an essential baseline on the sector’s current involvement in the provision of learning and skills activities to some of the most disadvantaged groups of learners. It also identifies some of the major challenges which prevent the sector from making a greater contribution including: The introduction of minimum contract levels; high management fees charged by lead providers, a lack of funding for overhead costs; and a shortage of support for some of the wider activities…

Latest Labour Force Survey figures for the first quarter of 2010 show that the voluntary sector now employs 778,000 people, an increase of 6.5% over the last year. This is in contrast to the public and private sectors which have shown a decrease of 0.5% and 2.3% respectively. The findings were produced by the Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in partnership with Skills -Third Sector. Read more about the findings in our press release, there is also a news item on Third Sector magazine's website.

The NCVO Civil Society Almanac 2010 has just been published, and includes a chapter exploring the workforce of the voluntary sector, which was produced in partnership with Skills - Third Sector and the Third Sector Research Centre. The latest research on the size, shape and characteristics of the voluntary sector workforce reveal that there are now over 660,000 people employed in voluntary organisations. In stark contrast to the private sector, the voluntary sector looks as though it may survive the recession without any decline in the size of its workforce, according to an article about the research published today in Third Sector magazine. The Almanac is sent free to all NCVO members. Non-members can purchase a copy online, and a preview of some of the chapters is available here or download the workforce chapter here.

Third Sector magazine's recent courses and training supplement features a detailed article on developing learning and training programmes on a limited budget. The article, Courses and training: Smarter ways to carry on training was published on June 22, 2010 and contains quotes from Jane Slowey, Skills - Third Sector's chair. Jane outlines that the worst may be yet to come for training budgets and outlines some low cost solutions to allow organisations to continue to develop their staff on a tight budget. Read the full article on Third Sector's website.