Implementing professional support for the voluntary sector workforce: A multi-case action research study
Research status: Closed
Call Closes: 28/02/2026
About this research:
Aim of the research- We want to find ways of supporting charity workers to stay in their roles. Background- The NHS and local councils fund and rely on charities to deliver services that improve people's health and wellbeing. Examples include dementia support groups and welfare advice. These services are often aimed at vulnerable people including carers and people experiencing poverty. Charity workers report enjoying their jobs. However, they feel unsupported. This makes them leave their jobs. This disrupts service users' care. Service users lose the relationship they had with a worker. This leaves some people feeling bereaved and they lose trust Charities report that more workers are leaving. Charities struggle to recruit replacement staff. Previous research has found that health and social care staff feel more supported if they are given training, coaching and have a good manager. Some charities struggle to deliver support to workers. This is because charities cannot afford to fund training. Workers often do not have time to access support. We need to find ways of supporting charity workers despite the challenges. Design and methods used- We will work with charities, funders and service users. We will: Undertake a review of previous research to understand what support works. We will run a workshop to discuss how the learning could help charities. Explore how charity workers are currently supported. We will talk to 45 workers, managers and service users. We will ask charity workers to complete a survey to understand what support they want. We expect 500 responses. Work with 6 charities to provide support to workers. For example, a charity starting a coaching programme. Explore the impact of the new support. We will talk to 40 people. We will use a follow-up survey to measure if workers feel more supported. Calculate the costs of different types of support for charity workers. Run three workshops with charity managers, workers, funders, policy makers and service users to discuss the findings. Design learning materials. We will share these with charities and policy makers. We will involve people with different characteristics and needs through targeted recruitment. For example, talking to charity workers with a disability. We will consider how these needs impact on support. Patient and Public Involvement- We worked with 10 charity managers, 18 charity workers and 9 service users to design the study. They had different experiences and were different ages and ethnicities. They suggested the topic because they felt that losing experienced workers was hard for service users. They gave feedback on the research design and on the application. We have charity managers, workers and service users as co-applicants. We will have a service user group and a separate charity worker group. Each group will include 6-8 people. The groups will provide advice on the study, help us understand the findings and co-design resources. Both groups will meet 7 times. They will attend the workshops. We will provide support and training. We will pay people for their time. Dissemination- We will produce learning guides and deliver training to charity managers on supporting workers. We expect that this will help to reduce the number of workers leaving their jobs. This will benefit service users because their trusted workers will not leave, providing them with better care. We will publish papers and attend conferences.
Who is leading this work:
Lead organisation: All About The Place
Organisation type: University / Academic
Who is being invited to take part:
Who this opportunity is aimed at:
  • VCSE organisations
  • Community groups
  • Residents
What participation involves:
  • Survey
  • Interviews
  • Focus Groups
Time commitment: 1-2 hours per week for 10 weeks
Incentives or expenses: Travel and subsistence is available if approved in advance
Ethics and safeguarding
Safeguarding considerations: None
Ethical approval status: Approved

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