Volunteer for us

Volunteering for us is one enjoyable way of helping animal welfare and can be very rewarding.

Important update about volunteering with the RSPCA

Thank you for visiting our website and offering to donate your time to help animals   

We have temporarily suspended recruitment for some of our volunteering opportunities, but there are still lots of ways you can help.  Please use our volunteer opportunity finder to search for volunteering roles near to where you live, or digitally from home.  At this time we politely ask that you do not visit, or contact our centre about volunteering.  This is so that our small team can concentrate on looking after the animals in our care.

The RSPCA nationally is working closely with the Department for the Environment and local authorities to identify other ways we can support communities during the Covid-19 outbreak.  Please keep regularly checking our volunteer opportunity finder for more details.   

 We have decided to join the national network and open our opportunity finder up to some smaller charities who regularly help the RSPCA by taking in sick and injured wildlife and abandoned animals from our Inspectorate and Animal Centres.  You will find adverts for these charities within our volunteer opportunity finder.  The RSPCA is not affiliated with these charities, and is promoting their need for volunteers as a gesture of good will during these difficult times.

We can't do it without you, thank you.

Volunteers make a huge contribution to the work we do to prevent cruelty, promote kindness to and alleviate suffering of animals.

With such a wide range of volunteering roles available across our branch and animal centre we know that you will be able to help us when current restrictions enable us to re-open.

Read on below for ways you will be able to help, either remotely now or in person in the future.

What will I gain?

Volunteering with us is a great way to meet like minded people who share the same enthusiasm for animal welfare. There are lots of other benefits too, such as:

• gaining new skills or developing existing ones
• the chance to try out something new
• doing something useful and rewarding
• gaining a sense of achievement
• putting something back into the community
• developing your personal skills and confidence

As a volunteer you can gain important transferable skills in fundraising, campaigning, finance, team building, management, computers, administration - the list is endless.

Who can volunteer?

Anyone can volunteer. We value diversity and encourage volunteers from all sections of the community. 

Unfortunately, there are limited opportunities for anyone who is under 16 years of age and some restrictions apply in relation to opportunities for under 18's. If you can't find a volunteering opportunity why not consider having some fun fundraising for us instead?

How do I volunteer?

If you'd like to find out more please contact us and find out more about getting involved.

Before you join us as a volunteer, you will be asked to complete a volunteer application form, attend an informal interview and provide referees for us to contact (depending upon the role you are applying for). When you start as a volunteer you will be provided with an induction programme and any training you may need to carry out the role.

How much time will I have to give?

There are many ways you can help us make a difference, no matter how much time you have available or the level of commitment you can afford to give.

We hope to be able to start posting volunteer positions on line in the future and you will be able to search here for our volunteer opportunities to find your perfect volunteer role - your time can make a real difference to animal welfare.

Read our full volunteering guidelines.