St John Ambulance has pledged action after latest figures revealed it has lost almost 4,000 volunteers over the last year.

Its annual report shows it had 44,385 volunteers by the end of 2022, down 3,735 on the previous year, when 48,120 people volunteered for the first aid charity.

It’s annual report details that “some of our basic processes, for example recruitment, can still be and feel incredibly clunky” and are blighted by “overcomplicated processes”.

This has “inadvertently” created barrier to people joining and staying with the charity as volunteers, it warns.

A “high proportion” of volunteers are also “less active than they had been pre-pandemic and a proportion had not yet re-engaged”. However, this data was not discovered until later in 2022.

“There are many factors at play here – from personal life choices to the type of opportunities available to wider experiences locally,” states the charity’s annual report.

“However, we are committed to putting this right in 2023 as we begin our journey to what we want to be, in time, a sector-leading volunteering experience.”

Volunteering projects to take place in 2022 included more than 2,000 of the charity’s voluntary workers supporting crowds during the period of national mourning and state funeral for the late Queen in London and Windsor.

“The eyes of the world were on the capital as we honoured Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and you must all be immensely proud of your contribution at such a momentous time for our city and capital,” said Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to the charity’s volunteer team.

Ask our course attendees what they thought about learning First Aid with us!👇

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— St John Ambulance England (@stjohnambulance) July 18, 2023

In June figures revealed by think tank Pro Bono Economics and Nottingham Trent University’s National VCSE Data and Insights Observatory found that two in five charities are “unable to meet their objectives” over the coming year due to a lack of volunteers.

Almost three in five charities surveyed said volunteer recruitment over the last year had been difficult.

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