‘Compulsory volunteering’ should be embraced by the voluntary sector

Many volunteering charities will, no doubt, recoil in horror at the prospect of compulsory community-based voluntary work for unemployed people.
 
The idea is part of the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s plan for welfare reform that will be announced in more detail this week. Under the plans, some jobseekers would be told to carry out four weeks of compulsory unpaid work, and could lose their benefits if they refused.
 
Charities and voluntary groups, as well as private firms, will be encouraged to bid to deliver the scheme.
 
The familiar (and quite reasonable) cry of, “if it’s compulsory, it’s not volunteering!” must be ringing out across their offices.
 
But charities need to move past this instinctive response. Helping people back into work is exactly the sort of area this government wants charities to play a bigger role in, and “compulsory volunteering” – call it community service or unpaid work if you’d rather – is how ministers are going about it.
 
Many in the voluntary sector believe passionately that they can do this work better than the private sector. Yes, there will be practical difficulties and yes, the principle might be awkward.
 
But if it turned its back on the policy, the voluntary sector would do a great disservice to those in need of its support.