Person-to-Person

By Slivers of Time
In partnership with Hertfordshire Council and Hounslow Council

This project run by Slivers of Time enables volunteers to be managed much more dynamically in a safe on-line setting. The web-based platform provides an infrastructure that enables local authorities and the voluntary sector to better support service provision, giving them a tool to increase the number of active volunteers.

Slivers of Time has tested this model in the private sector, as a way to manage flexible workforces, where some sectors such as supermarkets want people who can be hired for a few weeks, days, or just hours and often at short notice. The system allows anyone with spare hours to sell their time to local employers and enables employers to make precise bookings of workers, using an online platform.

The volunteering sector has similar needs. Slivers of Time is applying this model to match social care users and volunteers by piloting a person-to-person marketplace in Hertfordshire and Hounslow.

These pilots support the pairing of volunteers with social care service users.

Social care users can find volunteers to support with low-level, but vital, activities such as shopping and leisure.

The platform will allow users of care to book their exact needs for support in a safe environment. It allows volunteers, once vetted, to run a personal online diary of their availability, allowing them to volunteer around other commitments.

It provides an opportunity for localised matching of service users with volunteers. Volunteers also build up a verifiable, printable track record of work. The platform gives service users a higher degree of flexibility with care, with the ability to book care around their changing needs.

This is a particularly scalable model that has potential to be applied to other areas of social service provision.