AQW 50850/22-27

Ms Connie Egan
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 03/09/2026
Answered On Date: 14/09/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities whether his Department has considered introducing an incentive scheme to encourage volunteering in local communities.

Answer:

My Department has no plans to introduce an incentive scheme to encourage volunteering in local communities.

My Department currently supports volunteering through the Volunteering Infrastructure Support Programme; this funds organisations that encourage volunteering and support volunteers and organisations that engage volunteers across Northern Ireland.

My Department provided funding of £727,000 in 2025-26 to support volunteer recruitment, training and development within local communities through seven Volunteer Centres across Northern Ireland.

The Department also provides wider support to communities through ‘People and Place: A Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal’; in 2025-26, this supported community activity and volunteering, including 340,842 volunteer hours with an estimated value of £4.3 million.