To ask the Minister for Communities whether his Department has considered introducing an incentive scheme to encourage volunteering in local communities.

My Department has no plans to introduce an incentive scheme to encourage volunteering in local communities.

My Department currently supports volunteering through the Volunteering Infrastructure Support Programme; this funds organisations that encourage volunteering and support volunteers and organisations that engage volunteers across Northern Ireland.

My Department provided funding of £727,000 in 2025-26 to support volunteer recruitment, training and development within local communities through seven Volunteer Centres across Northern Ireland.

The Department also provides wider support to communities through ‘People and Place: A Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal’; in 2025-26, this supported community activity and volunteering, including 340,842 volunteer hours with an estimated value of £4.3 million.