The Role of the Charitable and Voluntary Organisations

Abstract

The term ‘voluntary sector’ embraces a wide range of non-statutory organisations involved in providing services for old people, in representing their interests and in making their views heard. It is sometimes wrongly confused with privatisation by both its critics and its supporters. It serves a different purpose, although in a pluralist society, with a mixed economy, it provides one of the elements through which personal choice can be made available to people who might otherwise be denied it. It also offers a means of participation and self-determination to both individuals and groups.