Volunteering Matters joins Care and Support Alliance to campaign for better care for vulnerable adults

Volunteering Matters has joined more than 80 leading charities across the UK in campaigning for better care through the Care and Support Alliance. The Care and Support Alliance exists to support and represent the millions of adults with care and support needs, due to disability or old age, and their carers.

Established in 2009, the Care and Support Alliance aims to campaign for better care by encouraging politicians on all sides to step up and commit to funding a fair and sustainable adult social care system that delivers dignity, independence and peace of mind for adult service users and their families. The Care and Support Alliance views the Care Act (2014) as a once in a generation opportunity to deliver excellent social care for the benefit of service users, their families and society as a whole.

Duncan Tree, Head of Policy at Volunteering Matters, said: “I am delighted that Volunteering Matters will be standing alongside so many excellent charities in the Care and Support Alliance. In the face of increased demand for adult social care services, together with severe cuts to public services, campaigning for change is a real challenge, but one that is crucial to the wellbeing of our society as a whole.

At Volunteering Matters we believe that the voluntary sector should play an important role here. Our volunteer programmes demonstrate that it is possible to deliver high quality volunteer-led support for adults with care and support needs and their families. Volunteers can make a unique contribution to support service users, and provide vital respite breaks for their carers. However, volunteer-led programmes are not cost-free, and therefore require adequate investment and resources to ensure that they can deliver excellent care.”