Workforce and Volunteers 2021

Estimated size of the Voluntary and Community Sector workforce: 53,620*

Introduction

The data presented in this section illustrates the estimated size and characteristics of the workforce in the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland. Data used within this section is taken from the Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2021.

Every three years NICVA undertakes a workforce survey which provides a comprehensive overview of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCSE) workforce in Northern Ireland. The previous surveys explored issues including workforce profile, salaries, pensions, recruitment, retention, restructuring, training and benefits.

This survey was disseminated in October 2021 and reissued in January 2022 to all heads of VCSE sector member organisations (n=844) in Northern Ireland. A total of n=152 participants responded to the survey, indicating a response rate of 18%. Additional information regarding the methodology can be accessed here. Comparisons with the previous Workforce and Volunteer survey 2018 will be made where necessary.

*The total workforce figure is based on available data in 2018. To be reviewed and updated as the relevant data becomes available.

1.0 Workforce Composition

The voluntary and community sector remains an important employer in Northern Ireland, with an estimated 53,620 employees. This figure represents 7% of the total Northern Ireland workforce

• Over 75% or organisation indicate that they employed paid staff
• The top three primary sub sectors in order were Community Development (26.5%), Health and Wellbeing (13.2%) and Other (12.6%)
• The “Other” category included organisations who worked in animal welfare, domestic abuse, conflict transformation, housing, learning disability, supported living and inclusion services and employability

Table 1: Sub Sectors Applicable to Organisations

Over a fifth of the organisations (17.2%), who responded to this survey, had an annual income of between £100,001-£250,000

• The largest majority (17.2%) of organisations had an annual income of between £100,001-£250,000
• Several organisations had an annual income of £500,001- £1 million (14.6%) and £250,001 – £500,000 (13.9%)

Table 2: Annual Income of Organisations (n=151)        

Based on findings from NICVA's Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2021, 75.9% of organisations (n=133) employed paid staff. 51.5% were employed on a full-time basis.

• 51.5% of staff employed in organisations that responded to NICVA's Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2021 were employed in full-time roles. This marks a decrease from the percentage of staff employed in full time (58%) from the previous Workforce and Volunteers survey undertaken in 2018
• A further 48.5% of staff were employed in part time roles, and increase of 6.5% from the percentage reported in the 2018 survey (42%)

Women comprised of almost three quarters of paid employees.

• Women represented 73% of paid staff in organisations that responded to the survey. This shows a small increase from the figure (71.4%) reported in the 2018 survey
• 15.6% of males were employed on full time contracts which marks a decrease from the figure (19.1%) reported in the Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2018
• For the overall Northern Ireland workforce, the gender composition is more evenly balanced with 51.2% of the workforce female and 48.8% were male (NISRA 2021)

Table 3: Gender of Paid Workforce by Employment Type (n=94)

Females (73.5%) were more likely than males (24.9%) to be employed on permanent contracts

• Females had a higher representation in all four contract types than males
• Females (73.5%) were considerably more likely than males (24.9%) to be employed on permanent contracts. This was consistent with the pattern reported in the Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2018
• Over three quarters (76.4%) of females were employed on temporary contracts compared with 18.6% of males. This marks a considerable decrease in the percentage of males (31.6%) employed in temporary contracts reported in the 2018 survey

Table 4: Staff Contract Type by Gender (n=92)

2.0 Recruitment and Retention

The most common recruitment difficulties experienced by organisations were “Insufficient number of applicants”, “Salary levels” and “Short term or temporary contracts”.

• Over 44% of organisations reported difficulties in recruiting staff in the past 12 months and 19.4% did not recruit in that timeframe
• Of those organisations that did recruit, issues impacting the recruitment of staff included “Insufficient number of applicants” (53.7%), “Salary levels” (46.3%) and “Short term or temporary contracts” (43.9%)

Table 5: Recruitment Difficulties

68.5% of respondents experienced difficulties around staff retention. ‘Lack of career progression’, ‘salary levels’, ‘Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic’ and ‘Funding’ were cited as the main contributing factors to staff retention difficulties. 

• Of those organisations (68.5%) who did have difficulty retaining staff, the most common issue cited was ‘Lack of career progression’ (48.3%). This is a considerable increase from the number of organisations experiencing difficulty (18.2%) with staff retention in the Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2018
• Organisations also stated that ‘salary levels’ (41.4%) and the ‘Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic’ (37.9%) made it difficult to retain staff

Table 6: Retention Difficulties - Staff

Over a third (31.1%) of respondents reported difficulty in recruiting and retaining volunteers in the past 12 months. The main reasons cited included ' People were unable to volunteer due to the Covid-19 pandemic’, ' Insufficient number of volunteers coming forward ‘and a ‘Childcare / home commitments’.

• The most common issue cited was that 'People were unable to volunteer due to the Covid-19 pandemic’ with 78.9% of organisations selecting this option
• Organisations stated that ' Insufficient number of volunteers coming forward’ (47.4%), ‘Childcare / home commitments’ (18.4%) and a ‘Lack of suitable volunteers’ (18.4%) also made it difficult to recruit and retain volunteers

Table 7: Retention and Recruitment Difficulties - Volunteers

Almost 44% of organisations indicated that the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted their absence rates

• Organisations reported their percentage absence rates for the last 12 months with this survey. The average percentage absence rate reported was 4.7%
• 43.4% of organisations indicated that the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted their staff absence rates whereas 50% said that it had not
• Of those who were impacted by the pandemic, reason cited included covid-19 infection, staff in covid-19 self-isolation, mental health issues in staff and premises closed.

Over 35% or organisations have adopted a hybrid/blended or agile working policy as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

• 28.8% of organisations are considering adopting a hybrid/blended or agile working policy once restrictions lift
• 22% of organisations stated that they cannot adopt a hybrid/blended or agile working policy
• 13.6% of organisations have made the decision to adopt a hybrid/blended or agile working policy once restrictions lift

3.0 Employee Enhancements

Over 52% of organisations reported that they offered enhanced annual leave to staff

• 45.6% of organisations offered Enhanced Sick Pay (Occupational Sick Pay) to staff
• 28.5% of organisations offered Enhanced Maternity Pay (Occupational Maternity Pay)
• 21.3% of organisations offered Enhanced Paternity Pay (Occupational Paternity Pay)

Table 8: Employee Enhancements Offered by Organisations

4.0 PayScale’s, Pensions and Trade Unions

86.5% of respondents to the Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2021 had an existing pension scheme.

• The most popular type of pension scheme implemented was ‘Defined Contributory’ (including money purchasing schemes) (65.3%) followed by ‘Final Salary (defined benefit) (28%)
• 91% of organisations reported that they were committed to paying staff the real living wage recommended by the Living Wage Foundation (i.e., £9.50 an hour/£17,290 FTE per annum based on a 35-hour working week). This has increased from the figure (80.3%) presented in the 2018 survey
• 58% of organisations reported that that pay was linked to specific scales
• Of those organisations who did use pay scales, 88% used the NJC, 4% used the JNC, 2% used the NI civil service scales and 6% used other scales

5.0 Funding

Over 42% of organisations provided services which were funded under government contracts

• Of the 128 organisations who responded to this question 42.2% of organisations provided services that were funded under government contracts whereas 57.8% of organisations reported that they were not in receipt of government contracts. This is a decrease from the figure reported in the Workforce and Volunteers Survey 2018 whereby 70.5% of organisations were in funded through government contracts
• Those organisations who were in receipt of government contracts reported a higher proportion of females in full time roles (71.3%) were funded through government contracts compared with males (28.2%)
• A similar pattern emerged with females employed in part time roles (85.2%) which were funded through government contracts compared with males (14.1%)
• Of the 152 organisations who responded to this survey, 126 organisations indicated that they had almost 10,500 volunteers involved in their organisations in management committee/governance roles or other volunteer roles
• Almost 20% of organisations employed or involved in a voluntary roles EU national (Non-ROI) and 16.7% of EU nationals (ROI)