Calls with Care Service

• Befriending
• Older Person Support

Our goal at Royal Voluntary Service is to inspire and enable people to give the gift of voluntary service to meet the needs of the day in their communities. We believe that our volunteers’ service makes them, and Britain, healthier and happier. The information below will help to give you a better understanding of our Calls with Care Service and the volunteers that deliver it.

• The service is for people who feel lonely or isolated – aims being to reduce these feelings of social isolation and loneliness, help improve mood, confidence, and feelings of wellbeing

• There are no living arrangement criteria

• There are no age-based criteria, although we do not support children

• The calls are made by volunteers, the time, frequency, and duration of these are agreed between the volunteer and client – our experience to date is that calls tend to be weekly, and on average of approximately 30 minutes duration

• Volunteers undertake in-house training around Safeguarding, Understanding Dementia, Mental Health Awareness and Fraud Awareness

• Volunteers complete a post call survey for each call where we pick up any concerns or opportunities for signposting

• Volunteers are supported by an experienced Safeguarding team

• Each match is supported by a named team member for the duration of the service
• After three calls, both the volunteer and client are called to assess whether the calls/match is working

• Follow-up calls from our team at 3 months and 6 months to assess the ongoing need for the service

• The service is free and there is no limit to how long clients can continue to receive the service

• Referral process is via an online referral form