VAL - Voluntary Action Leicestershire

De Montfort #LoveBiz Community

Contact: Trace Voss

Telephone: 07766 208010

VAL - Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (VAL) started supporting local communities in 1965 and this year sees us celebrate our 60th birthday in September 2025. Over the years VAL’s objectives and aims have broadly remained the same and that is to help people to change their lives for the better. We do this through a range of different methods and programmes.

Our core area of VAL is what is commonly termed as Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) infrastructure support. This is delivered in three key areas which are:
• Support for groups
• Volunteering
• Influencing Public Policy
Support for Groups
VAL works a huge cross section of VCSE groups across Leicester and Leicestershire. We have a database of 5800 groups that we are in touch with. Out of this number around 80% of these groups are what is termed as ‘small’ or ‘micro’, meaning that their turnover is between £0 and £3k a year, these are the real grassroot groups that are making a difference in a local community around making things better where people live. We estimate that the local VCSE across Leicester and Leicestershire contributes £195 million in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the local economy.

We support groups at all levels and starting points. This ranges from an individual with an idea to start a group, an established group needing support or advice and if needed support to help a group close. Our range of support includes:
• Setting up a group or charity
• A VCSE helpline
• Help with policies and procedures
• Plans and strategies
• Fundraising
• Read and Reviews to which reviews a funding application before it is submitted
• Recruitment of Trustees
• Online advice
• An organisational health check to identify areas of improvement for groups
• Training on key areas for groups such as bid writing or health & safety
• Peer networking opportunities
• A yearly VCSE conference
• Consultancy support
Our ethos is to empower the groups to be able to do things for themselves for example we will support, advise and review funding applications, however we would not write the applications for them. We also collaborate with the business sector to bring additional funding to VCSE groups. As Leicestershire’s accredited Volunteer Centre, VAL helps local residents get involved in volunteering. We engage with community groups and individuals to understand key issues, build on their strengths, and enhance their capacity via our conferences and network sessions. We also foster relationships with key stakeholders and strategic partners to collectively understand and support the VCSE sector’s needs.

VALUES
VAL also has a range of other ways that we work to support people to change their lives for the better and this includes:
• VALUES – project for those with learning disabilities
• Healthwatch Leicester and Leicestershire
• Employability projects
• VAL Spaces
We also run a direct service delivery project called VALUES supports adults with learning disabilities to be a part of their community by supporting them to take part in social and leisure activities, finding volunteering, employment opportunities, training to help them travel independently. We support over 100 people each year in the city and the county. VALUES provides opportunities for people with learning disabilities in Leicester and Leicestershire to learn new skills and have fun. Clients to the service have a range of different groups that they can attend and enjoy activities that stimulate them and also enable them to become independent.
Last year we provided:
• 18,000 hours of support to VALUES clients
• Delivered 1500 hours per month
• Supported 150 clients

VAL Spaces
Our meeting and conference space at VAL not only provides a professional environment but allows those booking rooms to give back to the local community. Our facilities cater to various needs, from small team meetings to large conferences. What makes us unique is our commitment to social good. Every booking contributes directly to community projects. Profits generated are reinvested into initiatives like volunteer recruitment, supporting VCSE groups, and providing essential services to local communities. The contribution from those booking our spaces helps foster social good and sustainability in the wider community.
Last year VAL Spaces managed to:
• Raise £46,879 in room bookings
• Secure 19 tenants to lease office space from us
• Delivered on 224 conference and meetings
• Secured 22 new clients to use our rooms to utilise their CSR approach to working with local communities
Over the 60 years that we have been running we estimate that we have:
• Enabled local VCSE groups to raise close to £40m, allowing a rage of much needed activities to be undertaken
• Supported 30,000 people to take up volunteering and give back to their local community
• Supported 20 new groups each year to set themselves up in the local VCSE
• Provided over 10,000 local employees of local businesses the opportunities to volunteer to support local communities and VCSE groups

VAL is a centre of excellence for all that we do, and we enable local communities to change their lives for the better. Our staff are passionate about making a difference and have a strong ‘can do’ attitude in delivering their work to make change happen.