Formal volunteering and loneliness, England
Official statistics
The share of adults in England who volunteered formally at least once a month in the last 12 months, and the share who feel lonely often or always, from DCMS's Community and Engagement Survey.
Adults volunteering formally at least once a month
18.22%
2025/26 · 6.7% lonely often or always; October to March
Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 15:04 UTC- Formal volunteering at least once a month
- Lonely often or always
Source: Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
2 rows
| Category | Formal volunteering at least once a month | Lonely often or always |
|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 16.54%16.32 to 16.76% | 6.58%6.43 to 6.74% |
| 2025/26 | 18.22%18.01 to 18.43% | 6.73%6.59 to 6.87% |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport
- Check it yourself
- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-volunteering
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 9 November 2026, 14:50 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-volunteeringSHA-256 64efb85acc200663fe4df0f505d22e17d3cee4d749c45e0675e111331875a32a · 1,340 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a705531862aaf18d9c62b2c/community_and_engagement_2025_26_volunteering_and_charitable_giving_data_tables.odsSHA-256 ef90a183a3c080bd750e395b1bb0b5d9a35db00b745937b05ed1d74a76c2500a · 505,324 bytes
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-lonelinessSHA-256 3bf604011da3dd719118dd853766a1f31756118bb6b1fab36a348d7ea193a655 · 1,214 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a705444cceb23e867897804/community_and_engagement_2025_26_loneliness_data_tables.odsSHA-256 1a194da953d77f5c221d3926ca84539299b32d5e8587d7cb1e94c10e4bda7de7 · 141,211 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 15:04 UTC Run at 9 November 2026, 15:04 UTC; 4 of 4 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Department for Culture, Media and Sport; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-09T14:50:33Z; 4 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 4 of 4 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 4 of 4 figures and the headline reproduced; the meta's accreditation and intervals and bases match |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 4 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 4 of 4 figures match exactly after downloading 4 source file(s) again (4 byte-identical); the headline matches; the meta's accreditation and intervals and bases match |
| Pass | GOV.UK table is current | latest period 2025/26 ended 223 days before retrieval (limit 500), from the stored table |
| Pass | DCMS's volunteering report agrees | 2 of 2 figures the report https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-volunteering/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-volunteering-and-charitable-giving-report states match, each rounded half up as it rounds them |
| Pass | DCMS's loneliness report agrees | 2 of 2 figures the report https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-loneliness/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-loneliness-report states match, each rounded half up as it rounds them |
| Pass | Each figure lies within its interval | 4 of 4 cases of the figures lie within DCMS's 95% confidence interval for them |
| Pass | Each topic's second table gives the first's total | 20 of 20 cases of Tables G2's and C2's total rows' cells are Tables G1's and C1's |
| Pass | Every answer on loneliness adds up to all adults | 2 of 2 cases of the years' five answers on how often adults feel lonely add up to 100% within 0.001 (2 exactly) |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-and-engagement-survey-202526-volunteering – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- DCMS's Community and Engagement Survey replaced the Community Life Survey in October 2025. Its first year, 2025/26, covers October 2025 to March 2026, and DCMS compares it with October 2024 to March 2025, which the record shows as 2024/25; the Community Life Survey's earlier years are not joined to it here.
- Shares of people aged 16 and over in England, as DCMS's survey estimates them; each figure's 95% confidence interval, respondents and base are in the record's JSON.