Shropshire Star comment: Voluntary services face crisis
There is a rather obvious flaw in depending on volunteers to provide certain desirable services.
It is this. If there are no volunteers, or there are and they have no money to do anything, you have no services.
It is understandable that councils, who are under severe financial pressure, want to cut their costs by hiving off some things they do and leaving them to the voluntary sector. It is also understandable that they do not have so much money to give financial support through grants towards voluntary efforts.
However, the upshot is that tremendous pressure is being put on the voluntary sector. Because this sector is diverse, it can be difficult to see the coherent overall picture, but a new report makes it clear that in Shropshire things are moving towards a state of near collapse and that the impact of that on the community could be devastating.
The report has come from voluntary organisations in the Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council areas - so the whole geographical spread of the county.
The picture painted is bleak. Around half of activities, including day centres and sessions set up to tackle loneliness and isolation, and advice to help people live independently, are at risk of being closed or reduced.
A look into the crystal ball brings no gleam of sunlight for the future. This is going to be a continuing crisis lasting years, unless of course something major changes, and at present there is no sign of that.
So we have a situation in which the work of the voluntary sector is experiencing heavy demand because of various welfare changes and spending cuts, and yet the same spending squeeze is hampering and even destroying its ability to respond.
The report highlights the massive amount of time that the volunteers put in and the many thousands of Salopians who benefit from what they do.
Helen Osborne, chief executive of Age UK locally, makes the point: "The voluntary and community sector is a large employer, six per cent of the county's workforce - it's highly specialised. We need to make our voices heard. The sector plays a key role in supporting people right across the county."
Shropshire has always been able to raise an army of volunteers, but the magnitude of the battle is becoming ever greater.
It looks like the county is heading for a tipping point. There is only so much you can expect people to do and provide by voluntary effort.
Now we have heard the voice of the volunteers - and it is a cry of alarm and of warning.
