• Covid-19

    • Tag: For Volunteers

    Ready, Teddy, Go! Success for Young Volunteers’ Event

    placement on 5 August, 2024

    After two weeks of planning and learning about event management, young people from across Midlothian came together to host a Teddy Bears Picnic for local children and their families. The event took place on Friday 2 August 2024 in Dalkeith Country Park Community Garden, and was facilitated by Volunteer Midlothian. We had 80 parents/ carers and children in attendance. The volunteers designed a famous bears treasure hunt and there was a pop up café serving refreshments and snacks. Children had the opportunity to meet the bear and guess his name, the children were so excited they could bearly contain themselves!

    Young volunteers welcoming guests to the ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ event.

    Carey Douglas, Youth Coordinator at Volunteer Midlothian said:

    “The young people were full of enthusiasm and energy from the get go.  They became a team very quickly and worked hard to plan and host the event which was a roaring success, I am very proud of them all for their commitment and hard work.”

    When asked about the volunteering experience, one volunteer said:

    “I enjoyed organising the event and deciding what to include.  I enjoyed working as a team and meeting new people.  I enjoyed welcoming the children on the day and seeing all the smiley faces.  Its been great everyone has been very supportive.”

    A member of the public who came along to the event said:

    “This is the third event I have been to in the garden it is such a safe space there is always someone on the gate so you can let the kids enjoy their treasure hunt, I had a cuppa.  It is such a great event well done to the young volunteers for organising it.  I will be back again next year!”

    A young guest at the event said:

    “It was Pawsome!”

    The event was the culmination of two weeks of hard work from the young volunteers, who met weekly to plan the event as part of Volunteer Midlothian’s Summer Youth Programme, ‘Event Volunteers’.  The young volunteers took part in team working activities, they learned about poster design principals, marketing, customer service, planning and communication.  With the latter in mind young people also helped at our conversation café funded by UK Shared Prosperity fund.  The café is dedicated to helping learners in Midlothian enhance their English speaking abilities. 

    The young volunteers will all now receive Saltire Awards as recognition for organising and hosting this unbearably special event!

    Thank you to everyone who came along and supported our volunteers! Learn more about our Transform project for young people here.

    Article by Carey Douglas – Youth Coordinator, Volunteer Midlothian

    Scottish Government proposes charges for volunteers’ PVGs. 

    placement on 3 May, 2024

    What’s Happening? 

    Disclosure Scotland has opened a proposal to introduce fees for volunteering. They plan to remove the current fee waiver and apply a  fee of £28 for volunteers to join the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme membership (this is a 60% reduction on the proposed standard fee of £70). If implemented, this will have a huge impact on volunteers and volunteer involving organisations. 

    Disclosure Scotland are also making changes to the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020. As part of this, the PVG membership scheme will become a legal requirement for those in ‘Regulated Roles’, this could mean that even more people will need to be signed up to the PVG scheme, thus more people will be affected by the fee proposal. 

    Our Stance 

    • We believe volunteering should be free for everyone. Volunteers give their time and effort to help others and asking them to pay to do so is insulting.  
    • At a time when we are in a volunteer crisis and volunteer numbers are steadily falling, this only puts up more barriers to volunteering. Many organisations rely on volunteers to do important work, and adding fees will make it harder for them to recruit volunteers. 
    • The implementation of this fee goes against core values and meaning of volunteering. The Volunteer Charter from Volunteer Scotland mentions, “No one should be prevented from volunteering due to their income.”. 

    What You Can Do 

    Now is your chance to speak up. We are conducting our own survey to examine the impact  implementing fees for PVGs could have on volunteers and volunteer involving organisations: 

    MTSI PVG Fee Survey

    ALSO, we strongly encourage you to submit your views to the VSDS online consultation. They will use this feedback to decide whether to go forward with these fee structures. Your responses are crucial. 

    Submit your views now before the consultation closes on Tuesday 28 May. 

    Disclosure Scotland Consultation

    You do not need to answer every question, however we urge you to answer the ‘discount for volunteers’ section. The two questions are as follows: 

    Question 6 – Do you agree with the proposal to move to a fee discount structure for volunteers in QVOs? 

    [Yes / no / don’t know] 

    Question 7 – What information do you think we need to consider when proposing moving to a fee discount for volunteers in QVOs? 

    [Free text] 

    We think Question 6 is ambiguous and could be interpreted in different ways. We recommend you do not to answer this question, and instead write your full response under Question 7. 

    Spread the Word 

    Share this information with your colleagues, friends, and anyone else who might be interested. Together, we can make sure volunteering stays accessible for everyone. 

    To learn more about changes to the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, visit www.disclosure.gov.scot/changes.