Information Sheet Summary Residential volunteering offers the chance to try things for a week or two or to dedicate a year or even longer to working with an organisation, living away from home. Opportunities exist in a range of organisations, including environmental and conservation groups, care organisations and animal welfare. This list of agencies will help people considering long-term or full-time volunteering. Contact the organisations you are interested in for further information and to apply for a placement. Some organisations accept volunteers from outside the UK. |
Note that long-term volunteers who are entitled to state benefits and who are living away from home can receive Housing Benefit (HB)/Local Housing Allowance (LHA), Council Tax Benefit and Income Support for housing costs for a maximum of 13 weeks. For more information, please ask a Jobcentre advisor or refer to a copy of the Department for Work and Pensions/Jobcentre Plus guidance “Volunteering while receiving benefits”.
BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers)
Sedum House
Mallard Way
Doncaster
DN4 8DB
Tel: 01302 388 883
Email: information@btcv.org.uk
Website: http://www.btcv.org
BTCV is the country's leading charity protecting the environment through practical action. The Natural Break programme of conservation working holidays enables volunteers to spend a week in spectacular settings learning new conservation skills.
• AGE: 16+ (overseas visitors, 18+)
• TIME: 2 days upwards
• COST: Prices start at around £60 per week, £40 for a weekend, and include food, accommodation, leadership and insurance.
• WORK: Various conservation tasks such as woodland management, pond clearance, dry stone walling and footpath construction. There is also the opportunity to make a longer-term commitment for 3-12 months at one of BTCV's volunteer centres, and international opportunities in 20 countries.
• Accepts volunteers from overseas
CSV
5th Floor, Scala House
36 Holloway Circus
Birmingham
B1 1EQ
Tel: 0800 374 991
Email: volunteer@csv.org.uk
Website: www.csv.org.uk/fulltimevolunteering
CSV offers full time volunteer placements away from home at hundreds of social care projects nationwide.
• AGE: 16+
• TIME: 4-12 months full time
• COST: Free. Accommodation, food, out of pocket expenses, £30 per week pocket money provided.
• WORK: Supporting disabled people to be able to live independently, both in their own home or at university. Mentoring and befriending young people at risk of offending, enabling people with mixed disabilities to access leisure facilities and social activities, work in special schools, homeless hostels, residential and day care centres.
• QUALIFICATIONS: No experience or qualifications required
• Volunteers must be a UK or EU national resident in the UK. Alternatively, volunteers from certain overseas countries can apply through a partnership organisation to volunteer with CSV. Contact details for partnership organisations are given on CSV’s website.
INDEPENDENT LIVING ALTERNATIVES
Trafalgar House
Grenville Place
London
NW7 3SA
Tel: 020 8906 9265
Email: enquiry@ILAnet.co.uk
Website: http://www.ilanet.co.uk/
Promotes the independence of people with disabilities who require physical support in every day life. It places volunteers, in the form of a partnership, to provide such support.
• AGE: 18+
• TIME: 4 months+
• COST: Board, lodging and pocket money provided. Travel expenses and all incidental expenses incurred whilst working for the project are paid.
• QUALIFICATIONS: None; all training will be provided. Driving licence useful.
• Accepts volunteers from abroad if they can speak and write English.
SENSE
Sense Holidays Team
101 Pentonville Road
London
N1 9LG
Tel: 0845 127 0060
Minicom: 0845 127 0062
Email: holiday@sense.org.uk
Website: http://www.sense.org.uk
Sense is a national voluntary organisation working with and for people who are deafblind and often with associated disabilities.
• AGE: 18 +
• TIME: 1 week
• COST: Sense provides full board and accommodation. Sense will also pay reasonable travel costs for students and unemployed volunteers.
• WORK: We need enthusiastic volunteers to help in our summer holiday programme for deafblind children and adults. All holidays are supervised by one or two experienced leaders who are assisted by a team of volunteers to help give deafblind people the opportunity to have fun, make friends and have a go at all sorts of activities that they are often excluded from. The holiday programme starts at the end of July and finishes at the end of August.
• Accepts volunteers from overseas who are fluent in English. In addition they need to be able to provide their country’s equivalent of a Criminal Records Bureau Enhanced Disclosure. Sense is unable to pay travel expenses for volunteers who are travelling from overseas.
LEE ABBEY COMMUNITY
The Warden
Lee Abbey
Lynton
Devon
EX35 6JJ
Tel: 01598 752621
Email: relax@leeabbey.org.uk
Website: www.leeabbey.org.uk
Lee Abbey is a Christian holidays and conference centre run by a community working for the renewal and refreshment of the church. A branch in London is a hostel for international students.
• AGE: 18+
• TIME: Minimum 1 year
• COST: Board, lodging and pocket money provided.
• WORK: Volunteers must be committed Christians. Applicants are invited to write to Lee Abbey with information about themselves, their backgrounds and why they would like to join the community.
• QUALIFICATIONS: None
• Applicants from overseas must have a very good command of English.
THISTLE CAMPS (THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND)
Send an A4 Stamped Addressed Envelope to:
Thistle Camps
The National Trust for Scotland
Wemyss House
28 Charlotte Square
Edinburgh
EH2 4ET
Tel: 0131 243 9470
Email: thistlecamps@nts.org.uk
Website: http://www.thistlecamps.org.uk
Volunteers help with conservation and management of countryside properties cared for by the National Trust for Scotland. Volunteers should be physically fit for outdoor work.
• AGE: 16+
• TIME: 1 - 3 weeks
• COST: Volunteers make a £50 - £120 contribution towards project
costs, with reductions for people who are unwaged.
• WORK: Practical conservation work on NTS properties all over
Scotland, including the remote islands.
• Overseas volunteers are welcome if they are over 18 years old
THE NATIONAL TRUST
National Trust Working Holidays
Community, Learning and Volunteering
Heelis
Kemble Drive
Swindon
SN2 2NA
Bookings Office Telephone (to request a brochure): 0844 800 3099
Email: workingholidays@nationaltrust.org.uk or volunteers@nationaltrust.org.uk
Website: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/volunteering
The National Trust works for the preservation of places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust organises over 400 inexpensive working holidays.
• AGE: 18+ (but piloting a small number of 16+ holidays)
• TIME: 1 week or weekend.
• COST: From £60 per week (meals and accommodation).
• WORK: Volunteers on working holidays may be involved in countryside conservation, wildlife surveys or construction projects.
• Overseas applicants are welcome
The Trust also runs a long-term volunteer scheme for people who are
looking for practical work experience, usually following a relevant course.
THE NATIONAL TRUST FULL-TIME VOLUNTEER SCHEME
National Trust Central Volunteering Team
The National Trust
Heelis
Kemble Drive
Swindon
SN2 2NA
Tel: 0870 609 5383
Email: volunteers@nationaltrust.org.uk
Website: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/volunteering
• AGE: 18+
• TIME: Usually 3 - 12 months
• COST: Travel expenses; accommodation is often provided.
• WORK: Most placements are in wardening and countryside management; there are a limited number of custodial, education or research placements in the houses.
• Overseas applicants are welcome
VITALISE
Shap Road Industrial Estate
Shap Road
Kendal
Cumbria
LA9 6NZ
Tel: 0845 33 00 148
Email: volunteer@vitalise.org.uk or overseasvolunteer@vitalise.org.uk
Website: www.vitalise.org.uk
Vitalise is a leading UK charity providing essential breaks for disabled people and carers at six centres across the UK. It also provides inspirational opportunities for volunteering, offering fantastic life changing experiences in a unique setting.
• AGE : 16+ No upper age limit
• TIME : Residential weeks, from 1 to 52!
• COST : Free
• WORK: Supporting adults and children with disabilities on holiday, in a fun and active environment along with other volunteers from all backgrounds and from all over the world. Loads of 'theme weeks' every year, from cricket to clubbing, cordon bleu, to Christmas shopping! Volunteers needed all year round, but especially in Spring and Autumn.
• Small groups and volunteers from overseas are welcome.
WATERWAY RECOVERY GROUP (WRG)
3 Norfolk Court
Norfolk Road
Rickmansworth
WD3 1LT
Tel: 01923 711 114
Email: enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Website: www.wrg.org.uk
Waterway Recovery Group organises week-long residential holidays called ‘Canal Camps’, where volunteers help restore the derelict inland waterways of Britain. It’s a great opportunity for people to try their hand at something totally different and pick up some new skills along the way.
• AGE: 18 +
• TIME: 2 - 10 days
• COST: £10 - £60 (price includes food and accommodation)
• WORK: Various restoration tasks, scrub bashing, tree felling, canal clearance, demolition of old brickwork and stonework, dumper truck or digger driving...and lots more!!
• Accepts volunteers from overseas
Further information
“The International Directory of Voluntary Work” is divided up into residential, non-residential, short-term and long-term work in the UK and overseas. It has over 300 pages, with fairly detailed information on each organisation.
Author: Victoria Pybus
Price £12.95
ISBN: 978-1-85458-354-3
Published by Vacation Work, 9 Park End Street, Oxford, England
They also publish four other books on voluntary work, which are available to purchase from online booksellers such as Amazon.com
This directory and other useful information on volunteering opportunities may be available in your local public library or your careers library.
The Department for Work and Pensions/Jobcentre Plus guidance “Volunteering while on Benefits”
Available on the Jobentre Plus website
Last reviewed: October 2008
We have made every effort to ensure that this Information Sheet was correct at the time of publication. It is intended as a summary of relevant issues and suggests further sources of information. Legal advice should be sought where appropriate.
For more information on managing volunteers, please visit
The Good Practice Bank at www.volunteering.org.uk/goodpractice
Or please contact Volunteering England Information Service
Email: Information@volunteeringengland.org
Freephone Information Line: 0800 028 3304 (M-F 10.30-12.30 & 14.00-16.00)
Volunteering England
Regent’s Wharf
8 All Saints Street
London N1 9RL
