Metric permalink
Regular formal volunteering
Part of the Trust and Wellbeing domain. Percentage of adults who volunteer formally at least once a month through a group, club or organisation, measuring civic engagement and social cohesion.
Latest data
Latest reading
2025/26
Change between the two latest observations (2024 to 2025/26), in stress score.
A lower reading is treated as worse for this indicator.
Score composition
Stress score
Since the August 2026 release
What changed on this indicator between the two releases: new observation, source changed.
Blended from two measured components: (2/3 weight) and trend (1/3 weight); where no trend can be computed the metric is scored on its level alone. Volatility is published as a diagnostic and does not enter the blend. Full formula on the methodology page.
Level · 2/3 weight
Bounds: scored against fixed best/worst limits, used until a metric has about eight years of verified data to rank against.
Trend · 1/3 weight
Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.
Volatility · diagnostic, not blended
50Provisional: fewer than four historical readings are available, so this defaults to a mid range score rather than a measured figure.
Data confidence and provenance
Confidence and source
How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).
Source
Community and Engagement Survey (formerly Community Life Survey)
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- DCMS
- Series ID
- formal volunteering at least monthly, England
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 25 August 2026
Known weakness
A medium-sized annual survey; volunteering rates are affected by economic conditions that change participation without reflecting structural social change. From 2025/26 the source is the Community and Engagement Survey, which replaced the Community Life Survey in October 2025, so the latest point spans two collection methodologies.
Notes
Verified official value from DCMS (formal volunteering at least monthly, England), accessed 2026-08-25.
Historical values
History
| Period | Value | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 16 | |
| 2024 | 17 | |
| 2025 | 18 |