October 2024 Update with Mike Melvin

Get Involved: National Volunteering Recruitment Campaign Takes Off

ACVO is delighted to support the National Volunteering Recruitment Campaign: Volunteering for All-Inspire, Support, Recruit which has launched to help support organisations boost and build the tremendous volunteering we have in Aberdeen and across Scotland which is more important than ever

The campaign includes information, free resources and top tips to help:

Inspire , with a series of inspiring volunteer stories and campaigns that highlight the benefits of volunteering from various perspectives, offering insights and strategies to enhance your programmes and take the next steps.

Support, with resources, including good practice guides, research evidence, sector-specific training, development opportunities, and upcoming workshops and events to further enhance your volunteer programmes.

Recruit, with resources including blogs with successful experiences, advertising guidance, and other insights to enhance your recruitment efforts and experience.

The campaign further aims to enhance the volunteer landscape in Scotland, ensuring that communities receive the support they need to thrive.

ACVO is also delighted that the volunteering campaign highlights inspiring volunteer stories produced by our Comms team in partnership with the Denis Law Legacy Trust and Four Pillars.

I strongly believe this is a timely and excellent campaign that we here at ACVO are delighted to be a key part of. We have such amazing volunteering in Aberdeen and this campaign provides both the opportunity to share our experience of successfully building volunteering and to further boost the vital, tremendous volunteering in our city and across Scotland.

Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice expressed her great support for the campaign and volunteering stating ‘I am pleased to support the National Recruitment Campaign to boost participation in volunteering and create a diverse pool of vital volunteers across Scotland. Volunteers play such an important role in thousands of charities, many of which simply couldn’t support people in the way that they do without the people who give their own time to help others. Having been a volunteer myself, I also know just how much you get out of playing your part and helping out.’

For more information please visit: volunteeringactionplan.co.uk.

If you are interested in involving volunteers with your organisation, you can visit either the Volunteer Aberdeen website at volunteeraberdeen.org.uk/support or  acvo.org.uk/volunteering to find out how we can can help.

PVG Scheme Fee Waiver for Volunteers Update

ACVO were recently part of a delegation that met with Natalie Don-Innes MSP, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise and Disclosure Scotland. The meeting was organised by the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Volunteering/Volunteer Scotland. The purpose of the meeting was to highlight concerns to the Minister regarding a proposal contained in the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 - accredited body fees and proposals for discounting: PVG scheme consultation, to possibly remove the current fee waiver for PVG: Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme checks for volunteers scheme checks for volunteers with qualifying bodies/to move to a ‘fee discount structure’ for volunteer PVG checks instead.

During the meeting ACVO fed back regarding the situation in Aberdeen, the potential impact of any move away from retaining the fee waiver for PVG checks for volunteers with qualifying organisations and urged the Minister to retain the fee waiver for volunteers. The consultation itself has received a record amount of responses (four times the average for a Scottish Government consultation), showing how important this is and the strength of feeling. A decision is expected soon.