Background to the Research

• Paid workers in voluntary and community organisations account for 5% of the total workforce, making the sector a significant employer in NI. There are gaps in information on the sector that need to be filled to help make educated decisions on the future development of the sector.
• This survey is built around four main aims including:
  • Improved mapping of salaries in the voluntary sector in NI.
  • Providing reliable information to help develop pay policy.
  • To provide a compendium of salary levels for job roles across the sector.
  • Identification of basic human resource characteristics in the sector.
    

Research Approach

• The research was based on a random sample of 10% of the voluntary sector population.
• The sample included organisations with paid workers and also takes into consideration the value of unpaid workers within the sector.
• The research was carried out in the form of a postal survey which included questions on employees, salary levels, benefits, pensions, pay awards, terms and conditions of employment and salary scale.
• The survey included 758 large and small voluntary and community sector organisations, of which 350 (46%) responded.
  

Main Findings

• 69% of the paid workforce in the voluntary and community sector is female, however, only 1.7% of females are employed in senior positions.
• 90% of organisations surveyed have contracts of employment for all staff.
• Around 50% of organisations have annual automatic pay increments.
• 40% of organisations operate occupational sick and maternity pay schemes in excess of the statutory minimum.
• Within the voluntary and community sector, 58% of all full and part-time employees are on permanent contracts.