OPINION

Early signs of recovery in volunteering participation in Scotland

19 September 2025
by Debbie Maltman and Bethany Sikes

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With today’s news about volunteer participation increasing, Debbie and Bethany Sikes dig into the numbers.

Volunteer Scotland is cautiously optimistic that volunteer participation in Scotland is showing early signs of recovery after a period of decline. After formal volunteer participation (that is volunteering with a group, club or organisation at least once a year) dropped to its lowest recorded level of 18% in 2023, the latest Scottish Household Survey results for 2024 show positive changes, with 25% of adults in Scotland formally volunteering.

This means that the number of volunteers in Scotland increased by 331,000 between 2023 and 2024.

We are particularly encouraged to see a nine-percentage point increase in formal volunteering among 16–34-year-olds. These results point to the beginning of recovery for Scotland’s voluntary sector following the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, with the formal volunteer participation rate just one-percentage point shy of the rate of 26% in 2019.

The results today also reveal that informal volunteering, which is volunteering that happens outside of a group, club or organisation, remains steady at 36% (the same rate since 2018). This means that, together with formal volunteering, almost half of all Scottish adults (48%) have volunteered in some capacity at least once in the last year.

While Volunteer Scotland welcomes the increase in volunteer participation, we must not lose sight of the challenges facing Scotland’s volunteers and voluntary sector. These results show us that inclusion and equity of access to formal volunteer opportunities remains a priority for the sector. While volunteer participation is up across all demographic groups, inclusion gaps are widening not closing. For example, the data shows that the gaps in volunteer participation have increased between people living with a disability and those without, people living in Scotland’s most and least deprived communities and those in the lowest and highest income brackets. It is vital that everyone is able to access volunteering and that no one is excluded from the many varied benefits of volunteering – including a wellbeing uplift of up to £1000 per volunteer, per year for those who volunteer weekly with a group or organisation.

Today’s results indicate that while participation in formal volunteering is starting to recover, stimulating volunteer participation and ensuring that volunteering is an inclusive experience, is and will remain Volunteer Scotland’s focus. In November, we launched a new five-year strategy to support increase participation in volunteering across the Scottish voluntary sector. As part of our new five-year strategy, we have worked with the Scottish Government to publish our re-focus plan for the national Volunteering Action Plan (VAP). The Scottish Household Survey results today underscore the importance and timeliness of this work to maintain the momentum of recovery.

This blog highlights key findings on formal and informal volunteering in 2024 from the data published on 18th September 2025 and compares results to 2023 findings (for formal) and 2022 findings (for informal). We will publish a more detailed analysis in the coming months.

Insights from the 2024 SHS data

Key findings for formal volunteering:

The formal volunteering participation rate is 25%, a seven-percentage point increase from 2023. This equates to 331,000 more Scottish adults formally volunteering between 2023 and 2024. Overall, there has been a six-percentage point fall from the 31% high recorded 2010.
‘Local community/neighbourhood’ volunteering remains the most popular type of volunteering with 24% of volunteers undertaking this activity type in 2024, however the proportion of volunteers undertaking this activity has fallen four percentage points from 2023 (28%).
Age – While younger adults in Scotland (aged 16-34) continue to have the lowest formal volunteer participation rates for the third consecutive year (24%), this age range had the biggest year-on-year increase in formal participation rates, with a nine-percentage point increase. Adults aged 35-59 have the highest formal volunteer participation rates of 27%, a seven-percentage point increase from 2023. Adults aged 60 and over have formal participation rates of 25%, and the lowest increase of five-percentage points.

Formal volunteering demographics:

Gender – Female formal participation rates remain higher than males (27% vs 24% respectively). Between 2023 and 2024 both males and females had a seven-percentage point increase in formal volunteer participation rates.
Disability – Disabled adults were less likely to volunteer than non-disabled adults (18% vs. 28%), which maintains a long-term disparity in engagement. Formal volunteer participation rates increased more for people without a disability, with an increase of nine-percentage points compared to only one for people living with a disability. The participation rate difference between non-disabled and disabled adults has increased to ten percentage points, from a difference of three-percentage points in 2023.
Ethnicity – The volunteer participation rate for white Scottish adults is 24%. The ethnic group with the highest volunteer participation rate is ‘white – other British’ (34%). Adults in the ‘minority ethnic’ group have a participation rate of 26%.
Deprivation (as measured by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation quintiles (SIMD Q) – Unfortunately, the long-established variance in volunteering participation rates between adults in the most deprived communities (SIMD Q1) and the least deprived communities (SIMD Q5) remains (17% vs 31% respectively). The gap has increased by three percentage points from 2023 to a difference of 15 percentage points.
Net annual household income – Adults with a net annual household income of over £30,000 continue to have the highest formal volunteering participation rates (29%), with an eight-percentage point increase from 2023. Adults with a net annual household income of £15,000 to £30,000 have a five-percentage point increase in formal volunteer participation rates to 20% in 2024. For adults with unknown or low net annual household incomes participation rates increased by four percentage points to 19%. The differential increase in formal participation rates between income groups has increased the participation rate gap from the lowest to highest income groups by four-percentage points to a difference of ten percentage points in 2024.
Economic Status – Employed adults have the highest formal volunteering participation rates at 26% (eight-percentage points higher than 2023). Adults who are permanently retired from work had a six-percentage point increase in formal volunteering participation rates between 2023 and 2024 (20% and 25% respectively). Adults with ‘other’ economic status also had a six-percentage point increase in formal volunteer participation rates from 2023 (17% in 2023 compared to 22% in 2024).
Geography – the previous trend of a higher volunteering participation rate for those living in rural areas (32%) compared to the rest of Scotland (24%) remains.

Formal volunteer activities:

Volunteering in ‘Youth and children’s activities’ outside school is the second most popular type of volunteering at 21% of volunteers in 2024, which is up from 18% in 2023.
Aside from volunteering in ‘local community/neighbourhood’, volunteering in ‘Health, disability and wellbeing’ is the only other type of volunteering to decrease between 2023 and 2024 (from 14% to 13%).
Volunteering in ‘Politics’ (2%), ‘Emergency services, first aid and public safety’ (3%), ‘Culture and heritage’ (7%) and ‘Children’s education and schools’ (14%) have remained static.
Volunteering in all other sectors has increased since 2023, with the biggest increases in ‘Hobbies and recreation’ (from 9% to 13%) and ‘Physical activity, sport and exercise’ (from 14% to 17%).

Key findings for informal volunteering:

The informal volunteering participation rate is 36%, the same percentage as in 2018 and 2022. This equates to 1.7 million Scottish adults informally volunteering in 2024.
‘Keeping in touch with someone who is at risk of being lonely’ remains the most popular type of informal volunteering with 62% of volunteers undertaking this activity type in 2024, the proportion of volunteers undertaking this activity has increased two percentage points from 2022.
Informal male volunteer participation rates have increased three percentage points from 2022 (from 34% to 37%), while informal female volunteer participation rates have remained unchanged at 38%.
In contrast to formal volunteering, informal participation rates are higher for adults living in rural areas (46%) than the rest of Scotland (34%). Informal rural volunteer participation rates have increased seven-percentage points from 2022 while informal participation rates in the rest of Scotland have fallen one-percentage point.
‘Providing transport or accompanying someone away from home’ has seen the biggest increase (seven-percentage points) in the proportion of informal volunteers undertaking the activity, increasing from 27% of informal volunteers in 2022 to 34% in 2024.

Creating a nation of volunteers

At Volunteer Scotland, we are passionate about creating a nation of volunteers who are strengthening Scotland’s communities. Our new strategy puts this into action – by connecting organisations across Scotland and fostering a shared approach to supporting volunteering. Ultimately, our strategy is all about supporting increased participation in volunteering. We are doing this in several ways including leading a re-focus plan to revitalise sector-wide engagement with the Volunteering Action Plan, launching a Knowledge Gateway to support organisations to recruit and retain volunteers, and creating a community space for volunteer organisers.

That’s just a flavour of what Volunteer Scotland are doing to respond to the ongoing challenges the sector is facing in volunteer recruitment. Read more about our Year 1 strategy activities here.

The Scottish Household Survey 2024 results show us that this work is critical to maintain the momentum of recovery in volunteer participation. And with the Holyrood Elections just around the corner, the time is ripe to influence our elected representatives to protect and promote volunteering so that Scotland’s communities can thrive. We will be publishing our Volunteering Manifesto in the coming weeks and will be launching an exciting new policy campaign in December – watch this space!

Today’s results are encouraging, but the work must continue. Let’s work together to create a nation of volunteers. And if you are considering volunteering, you can check out opportunities across Scotland here.

Debbie Maltman is Research Officer at Volunteer Scotland, Bethany Sikes is Research & Policy Manager at Volunteer Scotland.