There are currently a number of Trusts piloting the roll out of the National Volunteer Certificate in England funded and supported by Health Education England (HEE). The National Volunteer Certificate offers volunteers in healthcare the opportunity to gain accredited status from skill for justice (SfJ) by completing 60 hours of volunteering and submitting evidence against six national core standards. The National Volunteer Certificate (NVC) demonstrates that volunteers have undertaken high-quality training in theory and carried out a period of practice to be able to volunteer safely in health and social care. The standards have been mapped to the outcomes of the Care Certificate used in the preparation of support workers in health and care settings and to the Core Skills Training Framework. They will provide some of the underpinning knowledge for those volunteers who choose to move into a health or care-based career.
Volunteers can choose to complete an internal non-accredited version of the NVC that can be achieved in 30 hours, this is a great way to raise the profile of your volunteers. A certificate and the NVC pin badge are awarded to these volunteers to proudly wear on their uniforms.
Our NAVSM members report that in some Trusts they are increasingly being asked to explore pathways for volunteers to move into paid employment opportunities as part of a widening participation agenda, this is with the aim of contributing to easing future NHS workforce pressures.
If you want to find out more about the six core standards or the NVC you can click on this link https://volunteerlearning.community/guiding-volunteers/ or email [email protected] to join one of our regional networking groups.
