"Over 1 million people in the UK haven't spoken to anyone in over 1 month" Age UK

Team

Our volunteers are the backbone of our group and are vital to our work. We are proud of the high standards that we set and we welcome interest and enquiries from new volunteers, as we expect the demand for our services to continue to grow. If you are interested in becoming a member of the team and offering your time in order to help others, then please read on to find out how you can make a real difference to people’s lives.

Who can volunteer?

Anyone over the age of 18 can volunteer with us. Just as our members are diverse in their backgrounds, so are our volunteers. You can volunteer as much time as you like during the week and we will do our best to work around the times that you are available.

Volunteer roles

Giving one-to-one support and friendship to older people who are physically frail or socially isolated, in the comfort of their own home.

We offer one-to-one befriending to older people in care homes who may benefit from a regular visitor.

Giving a regular call to someone who may be in need of a friendly voice on the other end of the phone.

As our chief aim is to provide a friendly and caring service, it is crucial to us that our volunteers meet the high standards our members deserve, so that we can provide a professional service, trusted by all. To this end, we ask all volunteers to complete a detailed application form, followed by a meeting with our coordinator, where we assess your suitability as a befriender and make sure we are in a position to ensure a good match with one of our members. Following this, a DBS check is undertaken and references are sought. Once these are in and approved, we then look to make a match, whereupon we then ask you to complete the following training:

1. Induction

2. Safeguarding

3. First Aid

We acknowledge that there are quite a few stages to this. However, Lincolnshire Cares is keen to ensure that we provide a safe and professional service to our members. This process falls into the ‘best practice’ recommendations of the Friendship at Home charity, who have been instrumental in helping us establish Lincolnshire Cares.