MPs’ praise for ‘brilliant’ Mail Helpforce drive
Campaign boosted number of NHS helpers
THE Daily Mail’s Helpforce campaign has been praised by MPs as they propose a raft of measures to keep Britons volunteering.
Ministers should set up a ‘volunteer passport’ and incentives to maintain the huge levels of community involvement seen during the pandemic, a report suggests.
It hailed this paper’s ‘brilliant’ campaign, launched in 2018, which enrolled more than 30,000 readers to boost the number of NHS helpers. MPs who compiled the study, published today, say a promotional pack should be sent to all school leavers, the recently retired and new UK citizens to encourage them to sign up for unpaid roles.
Peter Gibson, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration which compiled the study, said: ‘Millions of people volunteered for the first time during the pandemic. Many of us wanted to do something to help others and to support the NHS.
‘Initiatives like the Daily Mail’s brilliant Helpforce campaign introduced thousands of new people to volunteering and many of them said they will volunteer again.
‘We need to capture that new community spirit and keep it going. Volunteering has so many benefits, giving people a new sense of connection to their community and introducing them to people they wouldn’t otherwise meet.’
Other recommendations in the report include setting up a UK-wide online volunteering platform, linking potential volunteers with organisations that need them.
The ‘volunteer passport’ would record each individual’s unpaid work and offer incentives.
Measures could include offering tax incentives to small and medium-sized businesses so that workers get time off to continue their volunteering work, it suggests.
All children and young people should also be given the opportunity to volunteer during their years in formal education, it adds.
One survey has shown an estimated 12.4million people in the UK offered help to their neighbours and community during the pandemic – 4.6million of whom were volunteering for the first time.
The committee heard that volunteering had created new connections between people of different ethnic, faith and social backgrounds.
Tory MP Mr Gibson said: ‘With support from the Government, businesses and civil
‘New sense of connection’
society, we can seize this opportunity to transform volunteering.’
Helpforce saw 34,000 readers sign up to carry out support roles – helping to run reception desks, distributing refreshments to patients or as ‘hand holders’.
And in another major success, the Great British Spring Clean, organised by Keep Britain Tidy and supported by the Mail, has called on our army of loyal readers to make the country cleaner.
During this year’s event a total of 217,000 volunteers pledged to clean more than 1,161,000 miles of the coast, countryside and streets.
MPs yesterday hailed the Mail’s ‘brilnliant’
Helpforce campaign, which introduced more than 30,000 new people to the world of volunteering. They now hope to ‘capture that new community spirit’ and inspire others to do unpaid work.