Volunteers no longer valued by the National Trust

Dear Editor,

I am a volunteer at Shugborough, Staffordshire. When I started seven years ago, the volunteers were shown appreciation by the staff at the property. A summer barbecue used to be arranged for us with free food, and a Christmas meal was arranged and also paid for. Both of these have ceased.

Of more concern is the obvious reluctance to pay volunteer expenses in a timely manner. I claim my expenses approximately every six weeks and they are always £100 plus. When I started as a volunteer they used to be approved within a couple of days. Over the last twelve months it has averaged three weeks for them to be approved and on two occasions it was more than four weeks. This from one of the wealthiest charities in the country.

I struggle to understand how this sits with the NT mantra of "we value our volunteers".

Nigel Plimmer
National Trust volunteer, Shugborough