National Trust loses thousands of volunteers as some tell bosses they feel ‘abandoned and ignored’

The National Trust has lost thousands of volunteers in the last year with some telling bosses they have been “abandoned”, ignored and treated with disrespect.

During the annual general meeting, members attempted to force the charity to consult with volunteers before making changes that impacted their work as they did not feel valued for the thousands of hours they donated.

The heated meeting also saw the Trust accused of “arrogant abuse” of their historic properties by prioritising money over heritage.

It was also a significant moment for the charity as members voted to ban trail hunting and hound exercise from the charity’s land. It is not legally binding and will now be considered by the trustees.

Caroline McAslan, a volunteer and a member of campaign group Restore Trust, raised the issue of the treatment of volunteers, and quoted official National Trust figures which showed that the number giving up their time had dropped from 65,000 to 50,000.

She asked: “Why have so many volunteers like me given up their role? Why are properties struggling to man their volunteer positions? This very real loss is symptomatic of reaction to the way in which they’ve been treated.”

The Trust said that the drop had actually been much lower – around 4,000 in a year – as the 65,000 claim in the 2018/19 accounts was the result of a “glitch” which saw people double counted.

Annual reports from 2014 onwards stating that they had more than 60,000 volunteers were all incorrect due to the error, which was spotted early in 2020 and rectified, the Trust said.

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The charity insisted that volunteers had left for a variety of reasons and the drop in numbers is largely due to being unable to recruit during the pandemic.

Ms McAslan said that she was a “loyal and enthusiastic volunteer for over seven years” in 14 different roles, including tour guide and writing for the charity’s volunteer website.

Taken for granted

But she made the decision to leave in December last year as “over the past two years, I, and other volunteers, have felt taken for granted and not listened to”.

She said that she “saw the strength of the feeling about the changes imposed on volunteers with little or no consultation” and said that for those donating their time “it is important to them that they feel supported, listened to and treated with respect”.

Ms McAslan quoted from a volunteers Facebook page in which one volunteer of 25 years, who had worked in two different departments, said she felt “completely abandoned by my national trust property” and noted the volunteers were never “thanked for the thousand of hours” they donated.

“This is a typical story told by volunteers and former volunteers,” said Ms McAslan, adding that despite “reassuring words” from the trustees, “something is not working as it should”.

Her point was backed by another volunteer who identified himself as Keith from Harrogate and told the auditorium that while he agreed that they are “valued” by the “hierarchy” he does not “accept that that actually happens at the grassroots”.

Ms McAslan called on members to support her resolution to “do more to respect, retain and support the tireless work of its volunteers”.

The Trust opposed the changes, saying legally they could not formally consult volunteers because they were not employees.

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Angry responses

But the suggestion was met with anger in the auditorium, with one member claiming it was not a legal issue but one that was “too risky”, with others demanding to see the advice.

One member, named only as Shirley, said that it “feels as if you’re deliberately skewing the information for members to vote your way rather than the best way for the volunteers, which the National Trust relies on in every way, from the top down, to keep the charity going”.

Answering the proposal on behalf of the charity, Ade Rawcliffe, a trustee, said that she too gave her time freely but that it was the legal position that they could not formally consult volunteers.

She said that they “value every minute” of the time given and “in fact, I know” that “we are treating our volunteers well”.

The resolution was narrowly defeated with 56,267 for and 59,015 against.

The Trust said on Sunday the true number of volunteers in 2018/19 was 49,000 which rose to more than 53,000 before the pandemic and has dropped to 50,000 for the last year.

A spokesman said: “In an average year we would typically see about 4,000 volunteers leaving us for various reasons, but at the same time we would usually recruit about 6,000.

“However, due to the pandemic and our places having to close, we were unable to recruit new volunteers, which resulted in our volunteer numbers dropping slightly.”