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The new Fund is closely aligned with the strategic priorities of the DH. The Volunteering Fund will pave the way for a renewed focus on volunteering projects in the NHS and social care. It replaces the Opportunities for Volunteering (OFV) scheme which has been running since 1982, and which continues to support local volunteering projects in health and social care, and opens up the floor to national projects to improve health and wellbeing.
The projects with the best fit to the DH priorities will be funded, within the limits of the funding available in each year. The appraisal of bids will be carried out by experienced assessors, with appropriate knowledge of the health and social care sector. There will be a strict quality control procedure on project appraisal, overseen by Ecorys staff who have many years of experience of appraisal of bids from statutory and third sector development funds. Feedback will be available to unsuccessful applicants. The final decisions on which organizations are funded will rest with the DH, with recommendations from the managing partnership. Funding decisions will be final and cannot be appealed.
The DH has a stakeholder reference group made up of key players from the third sector health and social care organizations who have acted as a reference group for this Fund.
The marking process for this fund is rigorous and objective. Each bid is marked by an experienced bid assessor, who has no connection with either the Department of Health or the Volunteering Fund management team. They declare their independence from the bidding project and its staff before they proceed with their assessment of each bid. Any bid that reaches above a certain threshold that is determined by the volume of bids received and their quality is then second checked by another experienced and independent assessor. They consider the bid in more detail and review the budget and policies of the bidding organisation. They can add or subtract from the original score on this basis. Finally, scores are then final checked and moderated by the core Volunteering Fund team to ensure marking has been consistent and fair and to ensure there is a balance of health and social care projects from each region in the final list of projects recommended to the Department of Health for funding. The Department of Health considers the final list of recommended projects from this process and then funding is awarded by the Volunteering Fund management team.
The decision on each bid is final and will not be reviewed unless the applicant agency has provided concrete evidence to the Volunteering Fund managing body that their bid has been unfairly marked or that there is concrete evidence of an error on the part of the managing agency. In this instance the evidence will be reviewed and if considered necessary the bid will be remarked by a senior and independent member of the company's management team.
Remarking may not lead to funding being awarded however, and is no guarantee that the bid will reach the required threshold for funding. Each bidding round is highly competitive and the majority of bids received are not funded even where they have demonstrable strengths.
The projects will be expected to work within the Compact guidance and principles, including non-replacement of funded posts by volunteers. The Compact guidance on funding will be followed by the managing organizations, including proportionate application processes and monitoring to the funding available, and the time available for the application process.
The managing partners include a group of four very experienced agencies that all bring something special to the partnership. The four agencies decided to put in a joint bid to do the work, through a public procurement exercise run by the DH. The four agencies involved in the partnership are detailed below:
Ecorys is an independent, employee-owned specialist programme management company with a network of offices throughout England and Europe.
PrimeTimersis a social enterprise that places experienced business people into third sector organisations to bring about organisational change.
Attend has 60 years experience as a membership organisation for voluntary groups working in health and social care, currently with 750 members.
CSV(Community Service Volunteers) has a track record of nearly 50 years delivering innovative volunteering support services for people with a range of social and health care needs.
The marking process for this fund is rigorous and objective. Each bid is marked by an experienced bid assessor, who has no connection with either the Department of Health or the HSCVF management team. They declare their independence from the bidding project and its staff before they proceed with their assessment of each bid. Any bid that reaches above a certain threshold that is determined by the volume of bids received and their quality is then second checked by another experienced and independent assessor. The scores are then finally checked and moderated by the core HSCVF team to ensure marking has been consistent and fair and to ensure there is a balance of health and social care projects in the final list of projects recommended to the Department of Health for funding. The Department of Health considers the final list of recommended projects from this process and then funding is awarded