Governance, Management & leadership
Volunteering is a human gift of compassion, not a bureaucratic test of worth
The Home Secretary’s proposal to link volunteering to migration status doesn’t just miss the mark – it sets fire to the whole target.
We keep being told there are too many immigrants and things are out of control.
But I have a question: who exactly decided what “too many” looks like? Is there a magical population number we are all meant to be aiming for? If so, what is it – and who came up with it?
To dodge the sticky business of actual numbers, politicians tend to bang on about net migration: the number of people coming in versus the number going out.
But even that raises a tricky question. What if more people leave than arrive? Do we start locking people in? “Sorry, love – no emigrating until we boost the birth rate. Now get at it.”
You can see how quickly this “too many” argument falls apart. And that is without even getting into the data.
Because “too many” isn’t a fact. It’s a feeling. A political judgement dressed up as a demographic truth.
The real issue – the one we ought to be talking about – is not numbers. It is narrative.
And that narrative, let’s be honest, is really toxic. Media and politicians (often working hand in grubby hand) amplify the extremes, spin worst-case stories, and stir up fear. Fear that immigrants are stealing jobs, draining resources, ruining our “culture”, whatever that means. And just like that, the lazy trope of “too many” gets planted.
But here’s what we know from real life: where people live in diverse communities – where immigrants are neighbours, mates, colleagues, fellow school-gate loiterers – attitudes are far more positive. People fear the abstract “other”, not the person helping them to carry their shopping.
Sadly, that inconvenient truth seems to have escaped our politicians, including our shiny new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
At the recent Labour Conference, she proposed that one test for keeping your immigration status should be whether or not you volunteer.
This is a terrible idea! Genuinely awful. For a start it links immigration status to moral worth, as if people who don’t volunteer are not contributing to society.
But if that is the test, what about the 20 million UK citizens who don’t volunteer either? Are they morally worthless too?
And what about migrants who want to volunteer but can’t – because of time, health, caring duties or language barriers?
What about the cost to charities suddenly being expected to find a way to track which of their volunteers are immigrants?
It reduces the very essence of volunteering – a generous act, freely given – to a tick-box exercise or, worse, a surveillance tool.
And let’s not forget, many volunteers are migrants. Their contribution is real, visible and vital – and they shouldn’t have to prove their right to belong.
So we need to push back. Hard.
Volunteering is a human gift of compassion, not a bureaucratic test of worth.
The government has now opened a consultation on this proposal. Let’s flood it. Let’s tell Ms Mahmood – loud and clear – that this idea doesn’t just miss the mark, it sets fire to the whole target.
And let’s do more than just react.
As charities, we have the power to change the narrative. To replace fear with familiarity. To move people from the abstract to the actual.
Let us tell stories. Real ones. Of immigrants we know, work with, support – people who are our communities. At DSC several members of our team are immigrants, and every single one of them brings brilliance, heart and a hell of a lot of value to our work – and beyond.
So next time someone says “there are too many immigrants”, don’t reach for a stat, reach for a story.
This article was originally published on the Third Sector website. Take a look here.