This update was shared by Ritchie Caswell, Volunteer Experience (VE) Team Leader, at the 'Network Delivery Project (NDP) in Action' Townhall sessions held on 19 January and 21 January for all volunteers and employees. You could refer to the recording and presentation slides available here.
You Spoke. We Listened. We’re Acting
A great volunteer experience starts with great support. Our Volunteer Experience (VE) Support Team is here for you - but we know that things can be better.
Our current systems and processes aren’t keeping up with today’s needs. We want to make sure every volunteer feels heard and gets quick, effective support. That means smarter technology, simpler processes, and people at the heart of everything we do.
Here’s What’s Coming:
1. A New Helpdesk System
- Launching Wednesday 28 January 2026
- Drawing all email requests, Go Assemble contact requests and website enquiries into one single place
What this means:
- Faster responses
- Clear tracking of requests
- A VE support team that will be accountable for service response and resolution – through Service Level Agreements – and,
- A service that can evolve because better data will help us learn from what we do to ensure we meet the current and evolving needs of our volunteers.
2. Improved Phone Support
- An improved phone system for better call handling and fewer missed calls
- Extended hours: From Monday 26 January 2026. Monday–Friday, 10:00–14:00 hours (trial for 6 months)
3. Tailored Systems Access Support from end of January
- A quick triage approach to enable escalation of issues for a faster response and resolution,
- Prompt troubleshooting
- Faster allocation to systems-specific support and fix.
4. Self-Help Resources
- Coming soon: Further resources and tools on the Volunteer Knowledgebase to provide a self-help portal with easy access to information, guides and FAQs to common support issues.
What’s Next?
- Exploring the potential benefits of a chatbot support channel - interlinking with our helpdesk, phone support service, volunteer knowledgebase platform, and SSAFA website.
- Increased gathering and analysing data to better understand volunteer support needs and improve the volunteer experience.
The below document contains FAQs regarding the above mentioned Volunteer Experience support developments for January 2026, provided for your information.