According to ‘Volunteer Scotland’, around 2.17 million people have volunteered - that’s nearly half of all Scottish adults.
While essential to the operations of charities large and small, volunteers can also pose risk.
This is because the line between paid employees and volunteers can easily become blurred, either at the start of, or during a volunteering relationship. When this happens, charities make themselves vulnerable to claims for backdated national minimum wage, holiday pay, unfair dismissal, statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay and redundancy payments, among other costs.
The danger areas
Most charities think they are clear on the difference between their volunteers and their employees: volunteers do not have employment contracts and they do not get paid.
This is correct, but on both counts the rules may be less clear-cut than you think. Charities may be putting themselves at risk – often in a well-intentioned attempt to reward or develop their volunteers.
- an employment contract does not have to be written down to constitute a contract, so volunteers do not have to have anything in writing to claim employees’ or workers’ rights.
- charities that are too generous or relaxed about offering volunteers expenses may be deemed to be paying them. Training can also be a benefit in kind if it does not relate to the volunteer’s current role.
The free will issue
Volunteers help charities out of their own free will. Questions about their status can therefore arise when charities require them to do tasks, imply there will be consequences if they fail to do them, or talk about ‘duties’ or ‘job descriptions’.
All of these can put you at risk of creating an unwritten employment contract. In all conversations and written documents, charities should therefore try to use language around ‘hopes’ and ‘expectations’ rather than ‘obligations.
Expenses or payments
To avoid ‘expenses’ becoming ‘payments’, reimburse only genuine expenses. For example, if you routinely give £5 or £10 for travel to a volunteer who lives just around the corner, this could be payment.
The same principle applies with expenses for food and drink or equipment: ask volunteers to produce receipts for their actual expenditure and only pay reasonable amounts for that actual expenditure.
Equally, if you offer ‘thank you’ gifts to your volunteers, avoid giving them the same gift at regular intervals. If the volunteer later claims to be an employee, these expenses payments or gifts could well be viewed as a payment in kind or ‘wages.
Volunteers agreements
An effective way to maximise clarity over volunteer status is to have a written volunteer agreement (note the use of the word ‘agreement’ rather than ‘contract’).
- set out what you hope for or expect from your volunteers – for example, in terms of time commitments and behaviour - rather than what you require.
- be clear on your procedures for claiming and paying expenses.
- use the agreement across your whole organisation, to avoid individual managers introducing their own expenses arrangements or talking about volunteers’ ‘requirements’.
Other important elements for your volunteer agreements
In addition to basic hopes, expectations and expenses, there are other aspects worth reflecting in your volunteer agreements, such as your charity’s obligations towards volunteers. These too can protect against legal, administrative or reputational risks:
- data protection:
- health and safety
- intellectual property
- vetting arrangements
- resolving problems
Your volunteer agreement makes sure both you and your volunteers understand what’s expected and therefore can protect against risk, but you don’t need to view it as a defensive weapon.
Rather, it’s a way to manage your resources more efficiently. It’s better for everyone if there is clarity around what your volunteers do – or don’t do.
Article published 7 June 2022.
