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FareShare Midlands is one charity affected by this. In partnership with FareShare UK, it rescues good-quality surplus food and redistributes it to more than 800 local charities and community organisations, reaching 83,000 people weekly.

Paul Akroyd, FareShare Midlands’ head of volunteering and employability, says: “We receive surplus food from supermarkets, farms and food suppliers into our three depots. There it is sorted, stored and redistributed… This includes [to] food banks, children’s clubs, homeless shelters and community kitchens. “We rely heavily on volunteers, the vast majority of whom are older and semiretired or retired. We were at a point last year when we almost had to stop making deliveries to our members – local charities and community organisations – as we had no volunteers to drive delivery vans.”

There are various reasons for decreasing volunteer numbers, not least the cost- fliving crisis. Paul explains: “Many charities have found that rising numbers of older volunteers who had been able to live comfortably on their pensions – potentially 10% across the UK – have found they’ve had to return to some form of paid work. “An even greater number of senior volunteers – potentially 60% – have adult children who are parents themselves. 

The current economic climate means that frequently both parents have to work, and childcare is costly. Therefore, older people who might have been willing and able to afford to volunteer are not doing so as they are supporting their children by providing free childcare.”

This is a growing trend in the sector. In Greater Manchester and Birmingham, the charity Home-Start has experienced a huge drop in volunteers in recent years because rising childcare costs mean more people are looking after grandchildren. The charity helps young families by offering emotional and practical support in their own homes for anything from poverty to illness, disability or bereavement. Volunteers offer a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on and practical help. Retired or older volunteers, once the core of HomeStart’s home-visiting volunteers, now have little time free for volunteering. It’s a similar situation at national charity Coram Beanstalk, which helps children in schools who need extra support with reading through one-to-one support. More than 80% of its volunteers are aged 55 and over. In 2024, the charity saw a 20% decline in applications to help – 49 schools are currently waiting for volunteers. 

Amy Lewis, who leads Coram Beanstalk, says volunteers today are looking for different types of roles. “Many seek shorter term or micro roles to better fit with other commitments,” she explains. “I’ve worked with the charity for over 13 years and have seen it become more difficult to find suitable volunteers for our role to help children become readers. Historically, we were able to find people who could commit twice a week, which was really appreciated by schools. We can no longer do this and have had to adapt our role to weekly visits. “Care for grandchildren has impacted on the time people can give, but also many are looking after parents who are living longer and unable to access suitable care. In the past year, we lost 14% of our volunteers due to family commitments.”

Technology is also a barrier to volunteering. Making Space is a national health and social care charity that runs services such as extra care housing schemes, carer support groups and mental health services. It currently has around 70 volunteers, most aged 70 to 90. Volunteer coordinator Antonia Pike says: “Time constraints mean our volunteering opportunities are generally now only advertised online. So if an older person doesn’t have access to the internet, they may not find out about us.”