Four in five volunteers say giving up their time for good causes improves their wellbeing, a survey of those working at ten major charities including the National Trust, RSPCA and Scouts has found.

Out of the almost 29,000 volunteers involved in the survey seven in ten say they have also benefitted from gaining new skills and knowledge though the training they have received.

Charities taking part are members of the Shaping the Future with Volunteering coalition.

Those sharing data also include Citizen’s Advice, Girlguiding, RNIB, Royal Voluntary Service, RPSB, the British Red Cross and Trussell Trust.

But the results to questions posed differed across charities that took part, by as much as 55% in some cases. The coalition says that this enabled charities to bench mark their support for volunteers against other charities.

“We want everyone who volunteers with us to have a positive experience so every year we survey the views of our volunteers to understand what is going well and ideas for improvement,” said National Trust people director Tina Lewis.

“Now for the first time we can compare what our volunteers are telling us with those of other charities and can work together as a network to share ideas and support each other.”

Last year research by NCVO found that a lack of flexibility and suitability of roles was a barrier for people to become a volunteer.

Shaping the Future with Volunteering’s findings suggest charities may be addressing this, with more than four in five saying they have flexibility around their volunteering.

A similar proportion say they “feel comfortable being themselves whilst volunteering” and would recommend the charity they work at as a great place to volunteer.

RVS chief executive and coalition co-chair Catherine Johnstone said: “The powerful voice of these shared results is that volunteering is good for you.”

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