Basic Statistics on
the Third Sector
in Wales
March 2013
Organisations
There are approximately 33,000 voluntary and community organisations in Wales, of which
32,197 are recorded on the All Wales Database, maintained by WCVA.
Of the groups on the database, 1540 groups are national, 1,196 groups work in more than
one local authority area and 27,984 are local.
23% are sports and recreation bodies
18% are involved in community development or are community buildings
13% are benevolent organisations
13% are faith groups with wider public benefit
11% are involved in health and social care
11% are involved with children and families
9% are involved in the arts, culture or heritage
9% are interested in youth
6% are interested in the natural or built environment
5% are involved in gender issues or are gender specific
5% are involved with people with physical, sensory or learning disability
Other groups include advice and advocacy groups, animal welfare groups, education and
training, employment, ethnic minorities, housing, international aid and emergency relief,
and volunteer and voluntary sector support.
There are 7,759 registered charities operating in Wales (Charity Commission Feb 2012).
Over 7,221 Third Sector organisations are registered with Companies House. There are
337 cooperatives based in Wales. Overall, it is estimated that about 12,430 third sector
organisations are registered with a regulator of some kind (WCVA All Wales Database) .
Volunteers
Volunteering can be done for people you know directly, or through an organisation.
Looking at volunteering through organisations, three methods give different results. The
2009-10 pilot for the National Survey for Wales provides an estimate of 20 per cent of
households, which is translated to mean 590,026 people. The equivalent statistic from
WCVA survey of organisations gives an estimate of 408,000. The Citizenship survey gives
an estimate of volunteering through an organisation of 33 per cent of adults in 2010-11,
which equates to 978,460. The different methods used account for some of the difference.
Here we use the Citizenship survey, as this enables comparison with statistics for
England.
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Third sector income
These figures indicate that 191 million hours of voluntary effort is given in a year, which is
worth £2.2 billion. This is equivalent to nearly 5 per cent of Wales GDP. When added to
the estimated £1.6 billion of Third Sector income, this gives £3.8 billion, roughly equivalent
to 8 per cent of Wales GDP.
Third sector contribution to the GDP of Wales
GDP can be estimated by the wages paid to workers. Thus the contribution of the voluntary
sector is the sum of the value of volunteer time and the staff costs of voluntary
organisations.
Third sector employment
The third sector employs at least 34,030 people, based on the Labour Force Survey 2011.
WCVA surveys of organisation indicate that there are 51,000 posts. The Labour Force
Survey only records the main employment of a person, so many underestimate the total
number of people employed in the Third Sector. Here we use the estimate of 50,960
posts, which has increased from the estimated 46,400 in 2005.
This represents 2.5 per cent of the number of people employed in Wales.
For further enquiries, contact
Bryan Collis, Research Officer Email: bcollis@wcva.org.uk Tel: (01492) 539 800
Notes:
Adult pop of Wales 3.1m (2011 Census). Average wage £11.51 per hour (ASHE 2010).
© WCVA
March 2013
This information sheet can be made available in large print,
or on disk. Also available in Welsh. If you require further information please contact
the helpdesk on 0870 607 1666, e-mail: help@wcva.org.uk or our website
www.wcva.org.uk
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