Civic life in England: volunteering, trust and belonging

The national picture

Most people belong, fewer trust, and volunteering has edged up

In 2025/26 about 61 per cent of adults in England felt they belonged very or fairly strongly to their immediate neighbourhood, and 62 per cent said they were proud to live in their local area. But only 38 per cent agreed that most people in their neighbourhood can be trusted, down from 40 per cent the year before and from 48 per cent when this way of running the survey began in 2013/14. Volunteering has turned up a little: 18 per cent of adults now volunteer formally at least once a month, up from 17 per cent, though still far below the 27 per cent of a decade ago. Civic participation rose to 38 per cent, driven by petition signing. Charitable giving is steady, with 66 per cent giving money to a charitable cause in the last four weeks.

Share of adults aged 16 and over, England, October 2025 to March 2026 (2025/26). The smaller figure is the 2024/25 estimate DCMS restates alongside each measure. Source: DCMS Community and Engagement Survey.

Since 2013

Formal volunteering drifted down, stepped down, and has now edged up

Formal volunteering means giving unpaid help to groups or clubs, for example running a group, coaching a team or helping a charity. The share of adults doing so at least once a month fell from a high of 27 per cent in 2013/14 to 16 per cent in 2023/24, then edged back to 17 per cent in 2024/25 and 18 per cent in 2025/26. The sharpest fall came between 2019/20 and 2020/21, from 23 per cent to 17 per cent, when the pandemic and its restrictions cut off much organised volunteering. The bars show the years the survey reports on a consistent basis; the survey was not run on this schedule in 2022/23, and the final bar is the first year of the new Community and Engagement Survey.

Place matters

From about a tenth to almost a half

Where a person lives shapes how likely they are to volunteer. Among the lower tier local authorities, the share of adults who did any formal volunteering in the last 12 months runs from 11 per cent in the City of London and 18 to 20 per cent in several former industrial towns and coastal districts, up to 45 per cent in Oxford and more than 40 per cent in university cities, the South West and prosperous commuter areas. The national figure is 30 per cent. These are the published 2025/26 local estimates from the survey, with the 2024/25 figure DCMS restates alongside each one; smaller areas carry wider margins of error.

Adults who did any formal volunteering in the last 12 months, by lower tier local authority, 2025/26 (295 districts with a published figure). England average: 30% (2024/25: 28%). The Isles of Scilly is the one district with no 2025/26 figure: DCMS suppressed it because only 22 people there were asked, below its threshold of 30. Figures in brackets are the 2024/25 estimate DCMS restates in the same table. Source: DCMS Community and Engagement Survey.

Loneliness

About one in fifteen feel lonely often or always

In 2025/26 about 7 per cent of adults said they felt lonely often or always, no significant change from 7 per cent the year before. DCMS notes that is still higher than the 5 to 6 per cent recorded in the years from 2013/14 to 2017/18. A wider measure of indirect loneliness, which combines how often people feel they lack companionship, feel left out and feel isolated, stood at 9 per cent. Set against this, most people still have someone to turn to: 96 per cent agreed that if they needed help there would be people there for them, up from 94 per cent.

Loneliness often or always is 7 per cent in both 2024/25 and 2025/26; DCMS reports the difference as not statistically significant. Source: DCMS Community and Engagement Survey.

Questions this raises

For communities and civil society