The UK voluntary sector has grown 26% in the past 10 years, outpacing both the public and private sector, and resulting in a massive skills shortage, according to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

The figures, published last week in the UK Voluntary Sector Workforce Almanac, showed that voluntary organisations are growing at 3% a year and need to recruit 25% of staff annually. Ian Burpitt, head of the not-for-profit division at Eden Brown, said: "In the seven years I have been supplying the sector, I have never seen it so buoyant."

The NCVO figures revealed that 53% of organisations had problems getting staff. Smaller organisations found vacancies particularly hard to fill, and named youth work, social care and healthcare as particularly difficult areas to recruit in.

Burpitt agreed: "There is a huge skills shortage, particularly among fundraisers. There are plenty of people who want to come into the sector, without the relevant experience, but very few people coming through the industry."

Natasha Waas, agency director of Charity People, was also in agreement: "When they get to a particular level, people will often move to the commercial sector, because salaries are higher. So it's particularly difficult to find fundraisers at the £30,000 to £50,000 level, and more experienced candidates in general." By contrast, graduate positions are hugely over-subscribed. Waas said: "The sector is very popular with new graduates, but there are very few graduate positions, because the sector doesn't have the resources to train and develop them."

Burpitt added: "I would like to se a refreshed approach, where people with the transferable skills but without the experience are given training to help solve the skills shortage."

Burpitt also warned that the buoyancy of the sector had attracted recruiters from other areas: "A lot of recruitment organisations which traditionally haven't specialised in the market place are jumping on the bandwagon. They are trying to fit square pegs into round holes, and they will bail out when the market stabilises."