Measuring the contribution of the voluntary sector

Whether it’s developing skills and training to enter the workforce, investing in buildings and equipment, or providing services to fill gaps left by the public sector, the voluntary sector plays a significant part in the UK economy. However, measurement of its economic contribution is inherently complex, meaning the role it plays is often undervalued.

Currently, there is no adequate, recognised definition of the contribution to economic activity across the sector, which leads to wide variation in valuations. Core National Accounts can be used to estimate the voluntary sector, through the Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) sector.

However, the UK voluntary sector is much larger than the organisations that are included within NPISH, given the specific definition of this sector. Voluntary organisations are spread across sectors and industries in the National Accounts, so the use of NPISH results in significant undervaluation of the sector’s economic contribution.

This ESCoE project aims to explore the problems with measuring the voluntary sector. It covered questions surrounding NPISH and the National Accounts and improved measurement of the sector within the UK National Accounts framework. This builds on previous work in partnership with NIESR.

Linked work from Josh Martin in collaboration with Pro Bono Economics has also investigated the feasibility of developing a civil society satellite account.

The project focuses on three elements:

1. Documenting ONS methodology for calculating NPISH
   We will formally document the full methodology used to create the NPISH statistics in the National Accounts. NPISH includes charities, higher education and further education, political parties, and trade unions, and we will highlight what data is used for each of these elements. In particular, we will focus on documenting the data process for charities, at both the NCVO level (who provide charity data to the ONS), and how the ONS then use this data. We will then review these processes and outline recommendations for improvements on how to make NPISH more representative of charities within England and Wales and allow for replication in both regional and devolved National Accounts.
2. Interviewing data providers and users
   We plan to interview key practitioners in the sector about their understanding of the role of data in the development of national accounts. These will include national infrastructure organisations involved in producing the data for the accounts, organisations that might use the accounts for their work understanding and campaigning about the sector, and government officials. We will identify what role they think National Accounts plays in their work and how they think it shapes understanding of the voluntary sector within society.
3. Investigating recommendations for data used in National Accounts
   Following on from our interviews with providers, we will recommend improvements and investments in the data infrastructure for the voluntary sector, ensuring regulators, voluntary sector representative organisations, and statistical producers are focussed on supporting the production of appropriate and accurate statistics about the sector.

This project has delivered the first in-depth review of how the voluntary sector is measured within the UK National Accounts, identifying significant gaps in coverage, inconsistencies across the UK, and opportunities to improve. Across three core strands of work, it has mapped the current ONS NPISH process in detail, gathered stakeholder insights on its limitations, and set out practical steps towards more comprehensive measurement – the creation of a UK civil society satellite account.

1. Documenting ONS methodology for calculating NPISH
   The project delivered the first comprehensive technical account of how the ONS compiles NPISH estimates within the UK National Accounts. The methodology combines four main external data sources – NCVO charity data, HESA higher and further education data, trade union accounts cfrom the Certification Officer, and political party accounts from the Electoral Commission – and processes them through the NPISH Local, Unbalanced, and Balanced systems. Charities undergo a “market test” to determine inclusion, and data are grossed to produce UK-wide totals. While the process is systematic, significant limitations were identified: lack of coverage for Scotland and Northern Ireland in charity data, under-representation of certain organisation types, and limited transparency in processing steps. Charities make up the largest share of NPISH, meaning improvements here would deliver the biggest gains in measurement accuracy.
2. Interviewing data providers and users
   Stakeholder interviews confirmed that while National Accounts statistics lend legitimacy and visibility to the sector, the current NPISH framework underestimates its true scale and scope. Data providers highlighted differences in regulatory regimes across UK nations, leading to inconsistent coverage. Users – including policymakers, infrastructure bodies, and voluntary sector bodies – expressed a strong demand for statistics that capture the full breadth of the sector, including social enterprises, informal volunteering, and small-scale community activity. Stakeholders consistently endorsed the development of a UK civil society satellite account, adapted from UN guidance, to allow more comprehensive and flexible measurement. This would enable alternative definitions of civil society, cross-country comparability, and the inclusion of currently excluded activities, while maintaining alignment with the National Accounts framework.
3. Investigating recommendations for data used in National Accounts
   The project proposes a set of technical improvements to strengthen NPISH measurement and lay the groundwork for a future UK civil society satellite account. A key step is expanding coverage to use the full UK charity registers, rather than partial samples, which would significantly enhance the completeness and accuracy of NPISH estimates. This expanded base would provide a more robust foundation for developing a satellite account capable of capturing the voluntary sector’s full economic contribution.

The inability to measure the voluntary sector’s contribution to the UK economy limits its comparison to the non-voluntary sector, meaning that it may be undervalued or overlooked. This lack of visibility risks the sector being undervalued in policy, funding, and strategic decision-making.

This project has improved understanding of NPISH by producing the first fully documented account of how ONS compiles its estimates, enabling greater transparency and allowing others – including devolved administrations – to replicate the process. By identifying clear, practical improvements, it also sets out a path for more accurate, comprehensive NPISH statistics that better reflect the size and scope of the sector across the UK.

These advances lay the groundwork for developing a satellite account, which would capture the sector’s full economic footprint, accommodate broader definitions, and allow meaningful comparisons with other sectors and countries.

Ultimately, more accurate measurement would allow for better recognition of the sector’s economic contribution. This could encourage further volunteering and involvement and investment in the sector, along with better use and allocation of resources. Unleashing the potential of the voluntary sector by measuring it more accurately could also allow its inclusion in economic growth strategies to improve both regional and national economic performance.

Gillan, B. ‘Improving how we measure the UK’s voluntary sector‘, ESCoE blog, December 2025.

Gillan, B., Spowage, M., Crummey, C. ‘The role of NPISH measurement improvements in developing a voluntary sector Satellite Account‘, ESCoE Discussion Paper Series, December 2025.

Gillan, B. ‘Rethinking how we measure the UK’s voluntary sector‘, ESCoE webinar, October 2025.

Spowage, M., Gillan, B., Crummey, C. ‘Measurement of Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) in UK National Accounts‘, ESCoE Technical Report series, August 2025.

Pro Bono Economics and ESCoE, ‘A feasibility study for a Civil Society Satellite Account‘, November 2024.

Crummey, C. ‘Measuring the voluntary sector’ ESCoE Blog, 14 May 2024.

Dixon, H. and Whyte, L. ‘The geographic distribution of volunteering across the UK and Northern Ireland‘ ESCoE blog, July 2023.

Dixon, H. and Whyte, L. ‘The geographic distribution of volunteering across the UK and Northern Ireland‘ ESCoE Discussion Paper 2023-14, July 2023.

Dixon, H. and Whyte, K. ‘Developing a systematic framework and method for including voluntary and non-profit organisations in NPISH and National Accounts’ Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence: The Next Five Years, poster exhibition, 12 December 2022, One Birdcage Walk, London.