FAQs

We have written to everyone receiving support to advise them of the closure of Volunteer Responders and included details of how they can contact our Support Team. In addition the most vulnerable patients were contacted directly .

All referrals needed to be input by 31 May for completion on the same day.

Any shifts or tasks that are dated after the Saturday 31 May have been removed and will not be completed.

The last date for one-off task referrals was 31 May 2025.

31 May was the last day of volunteer support. Any shifts or tasks dated after 31 May have been removed and will not be completed.

We have written to everyone receiving support to advise them of the closure of Volunteer Responders and included details of where they can find alternative support.

Following the last task date on 31 May 2025, any decision to allow volunteers to continue supporting your organisation, would be your choice and independent of NHS and Care Responders, NHSE, Royal Voluntary Service and GoodSAM.

NHSE, Royal Voluntary Service and GoodSAM would be unable to support with any issues that may arise, nor would any insurances cover your continued relationship.

If you wish to understand further ways you can continue to involve volunteer support contact [email protected]^[1]

We will process your data in line with the deletion and retention rules specified in the Referrer's Privacy Notice^[2].

The NHS and Care Volunteer Responders programme, which was set up in March 2020 to support people during the COVID-19 pandemic has been discontinued. Saturday 31 May was the final day of the programme. 

In the face of a difficult financial position the decision has been taken to discontinue the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service.

All live volunteering ceased on 31 May 2025

Yes there were live tasks that ended on the 31 May.

Everyone who received support from Volunteer Responders was notified via a letter. This letter outlined what happened and places they can find support beyond the Volunteer Responders.

They received details of how they can seek further support in their letter telling them about the closure of Volunteer Responders.

We will accept reference requests from organisations for employment or volunteering on request until 20 June 2025 by contacting [email protected] ^[3]

Unfortunately we are unable to provide references directly to volunteers.

We will process your data in line with the retention periods outlined in the Volunteer Privacy Notice^[4]. This effectively states that we will retain your data for a period of 6 months following the end of the Scheme (for admin purposes and to deal with any queries), at which point it will be deleted.

No, you should not continue to support anyone outside of the Volunteers Responders programme.

We are keen for you to continue your volunteering journey and have sent you some further information about how to stay involved.

The final date to submit expenses is 30 June 2025. You can do this via our expenses portal at concur.co.uk/rvs^[5]

The NHS and Care Volunteer Responders programme, which was set up in March 2020 to support people during the COVID-19 pandemic was discontinued. Saturday 31 May was the final day of the programme.

In the face of a difficult financial position the decision has been taken to discontinue the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service.

We have sent you a letter that details where you can get further support from. If you have not recevied this letter or have any queries please contact our Support Team on 0808 196 3382^[6].

Support ceased on the 31 May 2025.

We will process your data in line with the retention periods outlined in the Supported Individuals Privacy Notice^[7].

This effectively states that we will retain your data for a period of 6 months following the end of the Scheme (for admin purposes and to deal with any queries), at which point it will be deleted.