It is interesting to see the Local Government Association outlining ideas to encourage people to volunteer – including a discount on council tax – just at a time when we are considering a number of methods ourselves here in central London.

We have unveiled a five-point plan to show how all councils can already encourage volunteering without a dramatic policy change.

While we can certainly see the merits of any incentivising method, the only question we have is how much volunteering do people have to do before qualifying for a council tax rebate?

And how can that be properly measured?

There are already lots of innovative methods that councils can use to engage the public – we are about to embark on a few here at Westminster – and it is important that councils continue to look at all the possibilities when recruiting volunteers in local communities.

We are investing more than £300,000 a year to build Team Westminster, which will directly support more than 4,000 people to volunteer over the next few years.

Our five-point plane for encouraging these volunteers into action are:

1.       Give people the right incentives. We are investing in Time Credits, which do not give people cash as a reward for volunteering, but instead allow people to build up an alternative bank account of virtual currency (in a similar way to air miles or supermarket reward programmes) to redeem against exciting opportunities locally and across the country. Working on an hour-for-an-hour basis, it not only encourages people to try something new through volunteering but also gives people the chance to attend a new fitness class, go see a film or visit a national treasure where they might otherwise have done so.

2.       Make it easy for people to get involved. We are currently upgrading our service that matches prospective volunteers to opportunities to make it more accessible for everyone. This will include developing a new local web portal which shows up-to-date volunteering opportunities in your area and cuts right down on any form filling and interviews to ensure that if you are keen and interested one day, you can be volunteering the next day. The less visible the middleman is in brokering opportunities the better.

3.       Recognise achievement. We run an annual Westminster Community Awards programme where we recognise the city’s top volunteers and community leaders. Culminating in an Oscar-style ceremony, the awards are our way of thanking Westminster’s hidden heroes.

4.       Make it fun. Volunteering does not just have to be about altruistically helping your local community, although that’s why lots of people get involved. Instead, it can also be genuinely enjoyable and we are currently re-designing our flagship volunteering programme, which helps people to get involved with sports coaching at local clubs, as well as volunteer at major events in Westminster. There are some great examples in Westminster, such as volunteering for a Test Match at Lord’s Cricket Ground, the BAFTAs or even the Tour de France this year.

5.       People do it already. Recognise that a lot of volunteering is informal – the volunteer might not even see it as volunteering. Many people already help their elderly neighbours for instance or litter pick their roads and parks without any incentive and without ever seeing this as volunteering – and we are introducing a new series of community action events this autumn to help encourage this kind of behaviour and target this kind of informal support at specific local issues.

Cllr Philippa Roe is the leader of Westminster City Council