Background to the Research

• The purpose of the research is to detail the extent of the voluntary social care sector in NI and to examine issues that drive change within the sector.
  

Research Approach

• The voluntary social care sector within this report includes the following beneficiary groups: children/young people, older people, disabilities, mental health, parents and drug/substance abuse.
• The research was carried out through the use of a postal questionnaire. Data collected within the NICVA State of the Sector III survey was also used.
• The sample was constructed from the 5,000 organisations contained within NICVA's database, SectorNet.
• This report is based on data taken from the 972 returned postal questionnaires and the NICVA Salary Survey 2001.
  

Main Findings

• Of the organisations surveyed, 18.2% have children/young people as their main beneficiary.
• 85.9% of social care organisations that state mental health as a beneficiary group provide advocacy/information/advice services.
• Voluntary organisations (39.1%) are the predominant type of organisation within the voluntary social care sector.
• The voluntary social care sector in NI is relatively self contained, with only 14.9% of organisations being directly linked to the United Kingdom, Ireland or internationally.
• Within the social care sector, 27.8% of respondents are umbrella/membership organisations.
• Voluntary social care sector organisations surveyed employ 9,581 paid employees, of which 72.7% are female.
• There are 25,856 volunteers within the voluntary social care sector, of which 58.9% are female and volunteer on a part time basis.