THE head of a voluntary group has called for Nottingham City Council to introduce a "city-wide promise" to recognise the importance of voluntary work.
The manager of Broxtowe Partnership Trust would like to see the city lead the way in supporting the voluntary sector, as councillors begin their four-year term following the recent elections.
Mark Bowyer is calling on the council to help the sector by supporting volunteers and rewarding them for the work they do, as well as clarifying the position with voluntary work on benefit payments – which he said was confusing at the moment.
Mr Bowyer, who is also the representative of the voluntary sector on the board of regeneration organisation One Nottingham, said: "I would like to see the city council make it clear that voluntary work is important and one way they could do this is through a city-wide promise to show this.
"They could do this by discussing with the HMRC and JobCentre and clarifying how many hours you can volunteer without it affecting your benefits.
"I would also urge the city council to take a strong look at how they could work with further education colleges with a view to helping volunteers with NVQs and other qualifications – if you give something to the community, we need to give something back."
Before the election, the Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (CVS) released its own manifesto to encourage debate about future support for the sector.
The manifesto, which was supported by Mr Bowyer, called for the council to protect grants to the sector, to invest in local voluntary groups to keep the money in the city, and to maintain good communication between the CVS and the council.
It also called for the council to demonstrate its commitment to volunteering through the annual publication of details relating to council support for the sector.
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