The Cambridgeshire Time Credits programme was jointly funded by Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridge Housing Society (CHS). It was set up in collaboration with Spice in July 2014. Spice is a social enterprise that supports the development of the Time Credit model in the UK http://www.justaddspice.org/.
Time Credits are a way of rewarding people for volunteering. Individuals give their time to a local organisation, community group, volunteer group or a statutory sector service provider. In exchange for their contribution, they ‘earn’ printed Time Credit notes, one for every hour they give, which they can then ‘spend’ on a range of leisure and other opportunities, typically donated by organisations, local businesses and corporations to allow the community members to take advantage of their spare capacity.
The aim of the evaluation was to identify the potential of the Cambridgeshire Time Credit project in Wisbech to tackle social exclusion, loneliness and deprivation and to assess the extent to which it can reduce health inequalities.
This study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research’s School for Public Health Research (NIHR SPHR): sphr.nihr.ac.uk as part of the Public Health Practice Evaluation Scheme (PHPES).