IT was an honour to present an award at the Warrington Guardian Inspiration Awards this year.

The ceremony recognised an exceptional display of dedication and selflessness by ordinary people doing exceptional things. It was an outstanding night.

It also highlighted the lack of recognition for the many hours that people give voluntarily to address those challenges which are not currently being met, sadly, by the government and its agencies.

Volunteering, charities and going above and beyond mitigate the lack of support available for so many.

Giving a monetary value to this is difficult but expected to be in excess of £25 billion now and involve 800,000 people.

However, equating this to money devalues the fact that individuals, passionate about making a difference, frequently perform way above anything which would be achieved by an employed individual.

The charity sector is very fragmented and that’s because each organisation fills a specific need.

It could be argued that consolidating charities would make them more-able to make their limited resource go further.

However, like some contributions of the public sector, added bureaucracy and overheads could also dull the outcome.

  •  LAWRENCE Bellamy, from the University of Chester, writes a regular column for business