Open Letter to Phil Hope MP, Minister for the Third Sector

Dear Mr Hope,

I raised a question at the recent Westminster Briefing concerning the funding of training for volunteer managers.  Comparing the £4m intended to cover training for both volunteers and volunteer managers (VMs) with the amount allocated to v; I asked whether the funding for training was adequate especially as politicians and society have such high expectations of the voluntary sector.

Your answer, quite rightly stated that £4m is a considerable sum although everyone would like it to be more.  You went on to say that Train to Gain is a demand led funding stream that could yield hundreds of millions in funded training to the sector.

Cancer Research UK, the charity I work for, already accesses some T2G funding and some European funding for the provision of retail related NVQs for shop volunteers and shop managers.  I am unaware of any provision for training in volunteer management even at a basic level.  The main obstacle to accessing T2G funding for volunteer management training is that a very high proportion of volunteer managers have more than level 2 qualifications indeed degree standard is the normal level of academic education for people who manage volunteers or volunteer programs.  Most roles in volunteering seem to ask for applicants to be "educated to degree standard".  The fact that many VMs will have been educated beyond level 2 does not mean that they automatically have the skills required to manage volunteers.