The voluntary social welfare sector in Camden

A survey was conducted of voluntary organisations providing personal social services in the London Borough of Camden. The survey served two purposes. It formed part of a study commissioned from the National Institute for Social Work (NISW) by the Department of Health about the size and nature of the paid workforce in voluntary social services in England, and it also contributed to research by the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), University of Kent at Canterbury, on the nature, role and financing of the UK voluntary sector as part of a twelve country comparative study. Questionnaires were mailed to 162 voluntary organisations in Camden thought to be providing or supporting provision of personal social services. Organisations were identified from a variety of sources with a view to achieving a comprehensive sampling frame; however, it is possible that organisations were mistakenly omitted. From this initial sample, 41 responses were received (a response rate of 25 per cent). Allowing for anomalies in the sampling frame, such as duplicates, this gives a population size of 135. If we remove organisations which have ceased to exist or fall outside our definition of the voluntary sector, this gives a true sample population of 116. Of the 41 responses, we can remove 9 which are better placed in service/industry categories other than social welfare and 1 which is a very new organisation, leaving 31 valid responses. This gives an effective response rate of 27 per cent. Where percentages are quoted below, it should be noted that these relate to the organisations responding to the individual question concerned. All figures in this report are based on the 1990 financial year unless otherwise stated.