The voluntary sector workforce has a similar age profile to the public sector but is older than the private sector. There has been a steady increase year on year in the number of older people (aged 50 and above) and disabled people working in the UK voluntary sector, with this increase continuing in 2022. While substantially smaller than both the public and private sectors, it has seen the fastest growth over the last decade. A majority of voluntary sector employees work in smaller organisations with fewer than 50 paid staff members. The voluntary sector has a paid workforce of about 925,000, which is down 4% in 2022, reversing the previous year’s increase. The voluntary sector workforce has grown by 24% since 2011. Voluntary organisations carry out a range of different types of work. Social services – a relatively broad category – is the largest voluntary subsector, representing just under a fifth of the sector by size. In 2021/22, 46% of the population (an estimated 25m) volunteered informally at least once and 26% (14.2m) did so at least once a month.

These calendars have the traditional horse race design with a modern twist. They contain information like public holidays, school holidays and important festivals. The dates also include Hijri dates for the Muslims, Chinese Lunar dates for the Chinese and Tamil dates. Other than that, Chinese Zodiacs are also available at the bottom portion of each calendar.

Women make up the majority of the voluntary sector workforce at 67%. After a dip in 2018, the number of men working in the voluntary sector has remained stable at 33%. People aged between 65 and 74 are the age group most likely to volunteer, both formally and informally, on a regular basis. Formal volunteering for this age group is twice the rate of those aged between 25 and 34. Just under half of all voluntary organisations rely on the public for the majority of their income. Informal volunteering (which includes giving unpaid help without being involved in groups, clubs, or organisations) is less visible.

Almost half of voluntary sector income is from the public (the largest source) followed by close to a third from the government. Around a third work at least partially remotely: 28% work from their own home and 10% work from different places with home as a base. Over a third of the voluntary sector workforce are employed in social work. saw a UK-wide candidate-driven job market. Increased vacancies and fewer candidates resulted in a decrease in demand for jobs, making it harder for charities to recruit.Income and spending had increased consistently since 2000/01, but the rate of growth had slowed by 2019/20, and both fell in 2020/21, the first full year of the pandemic: income fell by 6% with spend decreasing by 8%. In the longer term, government income has broadly plateaued over the last decade, while falling as a proportion of total income, as organisations have increased their funding from alternate sources. Even though the number of all micro organisations declined in 2020/21, over the longer term, larger organisations have received an increasing amount and share of the sector’s total income. Larger organisations are more likely to be active nationally and internationally, while smaller voluntary organisations are more likely to operate locally. Voluntary organisations that focus on social services, research and international development make up most of the top 10 voluntary organisations by income.

In 2020/21 there were 163,959 voluntary organisations, a very small decrease since 2019/2020. The vast majority of voluntary organisations are micro and small. Volunteering participation varies by ethnicity, but different data sources tell different stories. Women and disabled people are relatively more likely to volunteer informally, with no differences by gender or disability for formal volunteering. In the same year, the income of smaller organisations is shrinking at a much faster rate than that of larger organisations. Major and super-major organisations are responsible for over half the sector’s expenditure, similar to their share of income. You can get Chinese holidays in each month of the year which is marked with ' ' and 24 Solar Terms marked with ' '.

As this report only covers the first full year of the covid-19 pandemic period, the next Almanac edition will provide further evidence of the ongoing impact. People aged over 65 have maintained their levels of formal volunteering since 2020/21, while participation in all other age groups has dropped. The pandemic appears to have encouraged the growth of micro organisations in 2020/21, but with a decline in the number of small and medium organisations.