With more and more public services being delivered by voluntary organisations, Nottinghamshire County Council, in partnership with the voluntary and community sector, has commissioned a survey aimed at gathering information about the challenges they face.

Over 1,500 local groups have been contacted about the survey, which is being carried out on behalf of the Council by Sheffield Hallam University, through their specialist Centre for Economic and Social Research.

The results will be used by the Council and voluntary sector to understand the issues faced by volunteers and groups, so that support can be targeted more efficiently and effectively in the future.

The County Council recently approved £5.25m of funding for voluntary sector organisations over the next three years through its grant-aid scheme.

The funding will be used to support 114 organisations across Nottinghamshire to provide a range of services in support of the County Council’s priorities, including support and activities for young people, help for dementia carers and healthy living sessions for older people.

Councillor Joyce Bosnjak, Chairman of the Grant-Aid Sub-Committee at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “Society’s reliance on volunteers is greater than it’s ever been as local authorities and other providers continue to suffer unrelenting Government cuts to their funding. Without the contribution made by individual volunteers and voluntary groups, many services simply would not be able to function.

“The County Council values the loyalty and the contribution of voluntary and community organisations and we need to understand more about the challenges and issues they face so we can better support them.

“We want this survey to provide the most detailed picture ever of the state of the voluntary sector in Nottinghamshire, so I would urge groups to respond.”

The survey is available to complete online at: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/voluntarysectorsurvey

All returned questionnaires will be entered into a prize draw to win a laptop.