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Lancashire County Council – Volunteer Placements

Lancashire teamed up with neighbouring Pendle and Burnley to explore volunteering opportunities for young people in public services in their communities. Targeting those who were most vulnerable, particularly those not in work, education or training, they pledged to develop the range and extent of these work placements, already the focus of their Every Child Matters agenda.

Recognising that the key to the programme’s success lay in working closely with mentors for the volunteers, the councils developed an accreditation in peer coaching skills after pairing them with young people in work placements.

A growing network of youth volunteering opportunities has since spread through Young Lancashire, Lancashire Education and Business Partnership and Volunteering Lancashire, and laid the roots for more young people to become involved in their local communities. Lancashire is one of 33 pilot Local Authorities in v Talent Year.

To see what these experiences were like first hand, view their short film:

What they learned

Identify your shared priorities and work with allies

  • Lancashire and its partners had already identified an ageing working population and the need to promote community cohesion, and focussed on this to gain credibility for the project.
  • Working with ‘yes people’ and allowing adequate time to gain ‘buy-in’ from partners/departments where volunteering placements are sought was the key to kick-starting the programme.

Underpin your approach with solid processes

  • Structured policies including volunteer/tutor agreements, volunteer guidelines, volunteer development plans and assessment charts, defined boundaries and led to better communication with partners.

Understand young people’s needs and build relationships

  • Understanding the needs of often chaotic lifestyles of the young people and ensuring entitlement to jobseekers allowance helped to build trust between volunteers and workers
  • A dedicated, skilled key worker was essential to building and maintaining relationships

Think forward and look for new opportunities

  • Lancashire was identified as one of the recipient authorities for the v Talent Year in its final phase which will allow the further development of fixed term placements in the Authority.

Find out about the authority’s ongoing good practice at www.lancashire.gov.uk/yps or contact Martyn Lawrensen.