Written evidence submitted by Volunteering Matters (RTS3234)

Focus: Defining “Long-Term Contribution” Through Volunteering and Social Action

1. Introduction

Volunteering Matters welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the Government’s proposals to reform the eligibility criteria for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

Our starting point is our core values: dignity, fairness and mutuality. Volunteering is not something done to people, or something we “require” from them — it is something created with them. Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees already make profound contributions to UK communities, often long before public systems recognise or record them.

This submission addresses the question:
“How should ‘long-term contribution’ to the UK be defined and quantified when considering pathways to settlement?”

Our response focuses on volunteering and social action as meaningful forms of social and community contribution — while being clear that contribution must never be turned into conditionality.

2. About Volunteering Matters

Volunteering Matters is a nationwide charity that creates stronger, more connected communities through the power of volunteering. We work alongside local organisations to deliver impactful programmes that support individuals and strengthen neighbourhoods across the UK.

Since 1962, we have championed volunteering as a catalyst for positive social change. Our projects are co-created with the people and communities they serve, ensuring that participants become future volunteers and community leaders, not just beneficiaries.

3. Summary of Our Response

• Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees already contribute significantly and consistently to UK society — through volunteering, social action, informal care, cultural exchange and community leadership.
• Contribution does not equal conditionality. Volunteering must never be mandatory or tied to immigration or settlement decisions.
• People with lived experience of the asylum and refugee system must shape policy design and decision-making.
• Government should remove the structural, financial and cultural barriers that prevent people from contributing in ways they want to.
• Volunteering is essential social infrastructure: it requires investment, clarity and support to thrive.

4. Basis of Our Response

Our submission draws on:

• Feedback from volunteers, including those with lived experience of the asylum and refugee system.
• Over 60 years of experience delivering volunteering and community programmes.
• Evidence from projects such as:

Bloom (Nuneaton)
A volunteer-led support group for Syrian and Arabic-speaking women. More than a “coffee morning”, Bloom is a vital community network that reduces isolation, improves wellbeing and supports women to navigate housing, education, health and legal systems. Volunteers also provide insight to local services, improving design and access.

Inspire Project (Dundee)
A programme supporting New Scots aged 16+ through volunteering, mentoring and employability activities. Inspire helps refugees and asylum seekers build skills, confidence and networks, with language and pre-volunteering support where needed.

• Relevant research including findings from the University of Kent, the Belong Network and our own project surveys.

5. Volunteering Should Remain Voluntary

Volunteering works because it is chosen. Turning volunteering into a requirement — particularly one linked to immigration status — risks undermining trust, reducing participation and damaging the very outcomes volunteering is meant to strengthen.

Compulsory volunteering erodes dignity and fairness. It reframes contribution as obligation rather than opportunity, and risks deepening inequalities.

6. Volunteering as Part of a Connected Social Infrastructure

Volunteering is core social infrastructure. It builds community resilience, strengthens relationships and enables people — including newcomers — to feel part of the places where they live.

We see daily how migrants, asylum seekers and refugees contribute to their neighbourhoods:

• supporting others with shared languages or cultural knowledge
• offering practical skills
• leading community groups
• helping services understand barriers
• strengthening local networks

Much of this contribution is informal and therefore invisible to formal datasets, but it is vital to community life.

On our Grandmentors programme, for example, 62% of volunteer mentors reported feeling more connected to their local community through volunteering. These benefits flow both ways and contribute to stronger, safer communities.

If government wants more people to contribute, it must invest in the infrastructure — community organisations, volunteer coordinators, training, safeguarding, inclusive spaces — that makes contribution possible.

7. Supporting People Who Need Additional Help to Volunteer

To ensure equal access to volunteering and social action, individuals — including those with lived experience of the asylum or refugee system — may require additional support such as:

• Clear, simple information on visa eligibility and permission to volunteer.
• Language support (ESOL, interpreters, translated materials).
• Cultural orientation and clarity around expectations.
• Reimbursement of travel, food and other practical costs.
• Flexible scheduling, digital access and accessible venues.
• Trauma-informed safeguarding processes and welfare systems.
• Social and emotional support including mentoring and inclusive team culture.

When we remove barriers, contribution grows.
Language pressures, trauma, financial constraints, caring responsibilities and digital exclusion all shape a person’s ability to take part. If government wants to enable contribution, it must take these realities seriously.

8. Lived Experience at the Heart of Policy

People who have experienced the asylum and refugee system know better than anyone where the barriers are, what support is needed and how policy changes may affect trust and community cohesion.

Their voices must not be an afterthought: lived experience groups should be embedded in consultation, design, delivery and evaluation of any proposals relating to volunteering, settlement pathways or “long-term contribution”.

9. Final Words

Decades of evidence show that the benefits of volunteering extend far beyond the direct impact on communities: volunteering builds confidence, wellbeing, belonging and mutual understanding.

We are committed to expanding these opportunities to everyone — including migrants, asylum seekers and refugees — in ways that are safe, empowering and genuinely voluntary. Instead of compulsion, we believe in creating welcoming, flexible conditions that allow people to participate when they are ready.

We stand ready to work constructively with the Home Office and others on proposals that strengthen communities, promote inclusion and safeguard wellbeing.

Contribution grows where people feel welcome. Our job — and the Government’s — is to create the conditions where people feel valued, and where what they give genuinely makes a difference. Volunteering should remain voluntary. Always.

Dec 2025