Volunteer workforce capability

April, 2026

Volunteers are an essential, but distinct, component of workforce capability. They have different role types, obligations, and expectations than paid workers in the workforce, meaning that they are not managed in the same way. Volunteers also have numerous training, screening, and credentialing processes to meet when engaging in the workforce.

Volunteering provides an important pathway to employment and is recognised in Workforce Australia Employment Services as contributing to key work-related skills and experience. It is important that workforce settings continue to allow volunteers to remain willing to freely give their time in the workforce and contribute meaningfully to their community.

Volunteers work across many workforce sectors from emergency management to the care economy that require specific training and screening processes. However, there is currently no nationally consistent screening process that allows volunteers to transfer their skills and credentials between organisations and across jurisdictions. This delays and complicates the onboarding of volunteers and creates significant burden for organisations that engage volunteers in multiple jurisdictions. The Australian Government is exploring national screening and credentialing in several sectors such as the care economy, that would allow volunteer skills and credentials to better recognised nationally.

A proposed national volunteer passport would aim to increase volunteer mobility in Australia and enable better planning through improved data collection. This initiative should build on current state and territory solutions in this space, drawing on consultation with the volunteering ecosystem, and ultimately seek a national solution for this mechanism. The proposed national volunteer passport was a key recommendation in our Pre-Budget Submission 2026/27.

Within Services Australia’s mutual obligation system, a jobseeker recipient can engage in voluntary work under certain categories to meet their obligations in full or in part. This can provide individuals with important skills and experience that helps them transition into paid employment.

The development of a national passport was one of six priorities identified in our 2026/27 pre-budget submission. We continue to support a national volunteer passport or similar mechanism that can be expanded to a range of sectors, or, at a minimum, be compatible with other sectors and scalable in the future. The National Strategy for Volunteering Action Plan 2024-2027 also includes an action to develop a national volunteer passport.

Volunteering Australia continues to advocate for volunteers to always be taken into consideration in the design of workforce and relevant employment policies.

Volunteering Australia has consulted with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on the national volunteer passport. Volunteering Australia continues to work closely with state and territory Volunteering Peak Bodies and the volunteering ecosystem on national screening and credentialing.

We have published 8 submissions on this topic since the beginning of 2023. You can access these submissions, as well as all of our other submissions and position statements on our website.

Volunteering Australia’s Key Volunteering Statistics report provides the most recent available data from 2022 regarding the portion of volunteers who engaged in specific workforce sectors.