Volunteering in Retirement

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A growing number of TSIs are delivering
volunteering towards employability projects
and/or facing increasing numbers of volunteers
looking for volunteering opportunities as a route
to work. This workshop will be take an overview
of the employability market then move into a
highly participative discussion exploring some of
the opportunities and tensions this places on
TSIs. It will look at the competing pressures
from referral partners, Job Centre Plus Skills
Development Scotland etc, who need short term
opportunities for often hard to place clients
and volunteering placement providers who need
committed and regular volunteers.
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Volunteer Centre Edinburgh Brian
Thompson Employability Service Manager
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• Global context
• Fewer jobs, employment migration and fewer funds
  to support job seekers

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• UK context
• Supply and demand
• Admin decreased by 2.4
• Plant and machinery operators decreased by
  3.9
• Skilled trades decreased by 5

5

• UK context
• Welfare Reform
• Welfare Spending costs 220million per annum
• Total cuts on Welfare 18billion by 2015
• Universal Credit will launch in Oct 2013
• Dumfries and Galloway Council
• North Lanarkshire Council
• West Dunbartonshire Council

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• UK context
• Get Britain Working
• Work Together
• Work Clubs
• Service Academies
• Work Experience
• Self Employment
• Is Work Together an opportunity for TSIs to
  fully integrate with JCP?

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• The UK context is more people seeking work, less
  jobs, reducing state support and more qualified
  competition.
• The future demand will be for higher and lower
  level jobs therefore people will need levels of
  high skills for high wage jobs and basic
  functional skills for low jobs

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• Workforce Plus an employability framework for
  Scotland
• The aim is for Better Alignment of Scotlands
  Employability Services (BASES) with five key
  objectives
• Strategy to address local employability needs.
• data sharing
• effective assessment and referral
• Co-location of services.
• partnership approach

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The Scottish context reflects the UK context
and it is unclear how the devolution referendum
will impact.
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The Volunteer Centre Edinburgh Context

• Volunteer Centre Edinburgh identified an
  emerging market in volunteering and engaged with
  stakeholders to place itself as an important
  strand of a clients journey to work.

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Volunteer Centre Edinburgh

• City wide employability service
• Four local volunteering hubs in areas of high
  unemployment
• Mentoring service
• Voluntary Work Coach

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What we have offered

• Since April 2008
• City wide service has seen 1411 clients and moved
  579 into volunteering
• The Voluntary Work Coach has seen 274 clients and
  moved 167 into volunteering
• The mentoring service provided services to 93
  clients
• 104 people have moved into work

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The future...   The presentation demonstrates
that the unemployment rate is not going to
improve for four more years. Is this an
opportunity for TIS to engage with the
employability market and grow volunteering
opportunities? What happens to socially
worthwhile volunteering?