If you were petrified, what do you think the volunteers would feel after hearing that?
As Monique Munroe, Newsletter Editor for Poole CVS reports, there is a very serious message here, one which came to light when the Institute for Volunteering Research carried out research for Volunteer Centre Poole as part of its GoldStar project earlier this year.
The aim of the research was to identify how Poole and Bournemouth organisations adopt good practice, the barriers they encounter to accessing this information and how they prefer to receive it. A total of 250 questionnaires were sent out with only 76 replies received.
Out of those 76, 86% said they had insurance for their volunteers, leaving a massive 14% who didn’t! If the same calculation was applied nationally, using Charity Commission figures for the number of main charities registered at the end of September, this would equate to approximately 70,000 volunteers (assuming each charity had 10 volunteers). That is a massive 70,000 potential compensation claims waiting to happen.
Rather like the one below which Kate Engles from Volunteering England heard about. A volunteer driver dropped his frail passenger off. As she got out she fell. She is now blinded in one eye and is suing the volunteer. He is not covered under his car insurance, as the insurer says the car was parked at the time.
The charity he works for isn’t covered under their insurance either, as they thought his personal car insurance would be sufficient.
Another example can be found on the Charity Commission website: (http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc49.asp) It shows how a lack of awareness and a follow-up system could also, as in this case, have had fateful consequences.
The trustees of a community association relied on one of their fellow trustees to pay their public liability insurance. The trustee went to prison and not long after the other trustees discovered the insurance hadn’t been paid. They immediately shut the community centre down. Imagine though if someone had hurt themselves at the centre before they’d discovered the insurance had lapsed?
Sadly there will be many more similar horror stories, you’ll probably know of one or two local to you, but these two illustrate the point very well.
Even if only 1% of those 70,000 potentially uninsured volunteers were to receive compensation claims against them, that is 700 people whose lives will be detrimentally changed forever. And there we are promoting volunteering as making a positive impact on people’s lives.
In Poole and Bournemouth we are doing our best to ensure that none of these potential 70,000 ever volunteer for organisations in our area. As part of this awareness-raising campaign, we emailed a similar article to this and included the following checklist boxes to local organisations.
We will also be following up on those who said they didn’t have insurance.
If you’re currently not insured, this is what could happen if someone claims against you:
- The money you’ve worked so hard to fundraise, could disappear in the claim itself and legal costs.
- Without funding the charity may have to close.
- Your clients/service users could be without your service.
- Your staff and volunteers could suffer from stress and could have to find other employment/voluntary opportunities.
- You could receive bad publicity in the press.
- Depending on the legal status of your organisation, your trustees may be liable to pay towards the claim. This could result in them losing their savings and homes.
This is a nightmare situation and while compensation claims are still relatively low, we have seen in the first example, that they do happen. With a little forward planning this needn’t be the case.
So please, if you don’t have insurance pick up the phone and make enquiries NOW. This time tomorrow you could regret it.
Start with the following checklist:
- Get some insurance quotes (a list of typical policies appears below).
- If you are unsure which insurance company to approach approach, The British Insurance Brokers' Association has a list of brokers for all areas of the country and can give details of those members who specialise in the voluntary sector. Their address is: British Insurance Brokers’ Association, BIBA House, 14 Bevis Marks, London EC3A 7NT Tel: 0901 814 0015 or email: enquiries@biba.org.uk See their website: www.biba.org.uk
- Talk to the Volunteering England Helpdesk or your local Council for Voluntary Service.
- Bring the subject up at a local network meeting or via an email alert system you subscribe to.
- Ensure you set aside a budget for the insurance. Discuss with your trustees.
- Finally choose the insurance you need and pay for it!
- Then draw up the checklists below.
Checklist for those who have insurance:
- Check your policies haven’t lapsed
- Make a diary note when you expect to receive the renewal notice and chase if you don’t receive it.
- Ensure the cover is still adequate, especially if you’ve taken on new projects since you last renewed.
- Check it covers volunteers over a certain age (some won’t cover volunteers over 70, 75 or 80 and this is particularly relevant if one or two of your volunteers have had birthdays since you last renewed). Likewise, if you plan to take on younger volunteers. Will it cover under 18’s?
- Make sure you shop around to ensure your older volunteers are covered, to save having to retire them when they reach the age limit. If you do need to phone the insurance company for clarification of cover, make a note of who you spoke to, the date and what they confirmed. If you feel you need clarification in writing, you can always email them, mention your conversation and ask them to confirm this for you by email.
- Reassure your volunteers that all the activities they engage in will be covered by your insurance.
- Put the public liability/employer’s liability certificate on display in your office.
- Keep your trustees in the picture and ensure that insurance is discussed at executive meetings and regularly reviewed.
Checklist of insurance policies:
- Contents
- Buildings
- Events
- Professional indemnity
- Employers’ liability or public liability
- Trustee indemnity insurance (covers trustees from having to personally pay out when legal claims are made against them)
- Legal expenses (to cover expenses if the charity has to defend itself in legal proceedings.)
Please note: You may not need all these forms of cover. If you are unsure, consult your CVS, Volunteering England or your broker.
Volunteering England's Info Sheet on Insurance can be found at: http://www.volunteering.org.uk/informationsheets
Background information:
Monique has worked for Poole CVS since 1999 and ran the Volunteer Centre for seven years but she is not an insurance or legal expert.
If you require further information on this subject please direct your enquiries appropriately.
