Finding Out About Volunteering

How do I find out which organisations are looking for volunteers?

If you are looking to volunteer locally in your spare time, the best thing to do is to visit your local Volunteer Centre. Volunteer Centres work with local organisations to help them find volunteers. When an organisation needs a volunteer, it will register a vacancy with its local Centre, which will put it on its database. When you visit the bureau, the staff there will talk to you about what you want to do, how much time you have, and so on, and will then help you to look through the database and identify opportunities that suit you. They can answer any questions you have on volunteering, support you when you contact organisations, and help you to decide which opportunities are right for you. You can find out where your nearest Volunteer Centre is by ringing Volunteering England on 0845 305 6979 or using our Volunteer Centre finder

All Volunteer Centres upload their opportunities on to an online database called Do-It, so you can also search for vacancies online. The Do-It site also has lots of articles and information on volunteering. The website address is http://www.do-it.org.uk

GuideStar UK is another online resource that can help you in your search for volunteering opportunities. The GuideStar website contains information on approximately 168,000 registered charities in England and Wales, so can be used to find local groups in your area. Once you’ve identified the voluntary groups that you’d like to volunteer with, you can contact them directly to find out what sort of volunteering opportunities they have available.
http://guidestar.org.uk/guidestar.aspx

Organisations may also advertise locally, so it is worth looking at notice boards in community centres, libraries, doctors’ surgeries etc. They may also place adverts in the local press. National charities sometimes advertise in the national press as well; for instance the “Society” section of the “Guardian” on Wednesdays often has a page of volunteering opportunities.

Volunteering further afield

The Information Service at Volunteering England also produces Information Sheets on “Residential Volunteering Opportunities in the UK” and “Volunteering Overseas”.

How do I know which opportunity is right for me?

Before you start looking for volunteer opportunities, think hard about what you want to get out of volunteering. Do you want to meet people, learn certain skills, help a specific client group or organisation, get a reference or some experience for your CV? You will also have some practical considerations: maybe you can only volunteer at certain times, need a building that is accessible, or would prefer to volunteer near your house.

Whatever your needs are, do not be afraid to discuss them with the organisation. There are more volunteer opportunities than there are volunteers, so it is worth searching around to find something that is suitable. Any good organisation will not mind you asking them about training, supervision, accessibility, support and so on before you start. If an organisation is awkward about answering your questions, then you may well decide that it would not be a good place to volunteer anyway.

What will happen when I contact an organisation about volunteering for them?

Organisations working with volunteers vary enormously and they all have slightly different ways of taking on volunteers. However, there are some things that will usually be the same. When you contact the organisation, you will need to speak to the Volunteer Co-ordinator or Volunteer Manager. They will be able to answer any questions that you might have and will tell you what to do next.

You may have to fill out an application form or go for an interview. This is not like applying for a job. The organisation will just want to find out whether you have the basic skills they need and whether they can offer you the kind of opportunity that you want. At this stage you will still be deciding whether you like the organisation and want to offer your time to it. The application process is generally more about you choosing the organisation than it is about the organisation choosing you. If you feel that it is too formal, not approachable, not organised enough, etc at this stage, then it may not be the right organisation for you.

What should I expect as a volunteer?

Again, organisations vary a lot, but there are some basic things that you should expect as a volunteer.

• You should have an induction where you are told about the organisation and its policies are explained to you – this would generally cover things such as health and safety, what to do if you have a problem and an introduction to other staff and volunteers.
• You should be told who your supervisor is and how to contact them. It is important that you have a named supervisor who you can go to with any problems or queries.
• You should receive adequate training to be able to carry out your role. The exact nature of the training you receive will depend on the role, but you will probably need at least basic training about the tasks that you will be doing.
• You should receive ongoing support and supervision, because even if you have been with an organisation for a long time, it should still be talking to you regularly about whether you are happy and if there is anything more it can do to make your role easier or more interesting.

Will volunteering cost me anything?

Volunteering England believes that everybody should be able to volunteer and that volunteers should not be expected to offer money as well as time. Most organisations reimburse volunteers’ expenses, so if you are thinking of working with one that doesn’t, then it is worth asking why. If it does not have a good reason, this can suggest that it does not take its volunteer involvement very seriously.

Under rules laid down by HM Revenue and Customs and the Department of Work and Pensions, organisations are allowed to reimburse you for anything ‘reasonable’ you have had to pay for that you would not have had to purchase if you were not volunteering. This can include travel, meals purchased while volunteering, special clothing and care of dependants. Most organisations will have an expenses budget, so you will need to check how much they can reimburse and what their policy is. For instance, many will set a limit on how much they can reimburse for lunch, or may ask you to travel in the cheapest way that you can.

Check with the organisation about how it reimburses expenses. To make it easier for you, it is good practice for organisations to reimburse your expenses in cash on the same day. If they are reimbursing weekly or monthly and by cheque instead of cash, then this may make things difficult for you (especially if you are claiming benefits or are on a low income), and it might be better for you to find another organisation that reimburses expenses in a more practical way.

Am I allowed to volunteer?

Lots of people don’t volunteer because they think that they can’t because of their age, because they have a criminal conviction or because they are on benefits. In fact, everybody can volunteer. There are so many different volunteer roles and types of volunteering that there is something out there to suit anyone who wants to volunteer. More information can be found in Volunteering England’s Information Sheet “Who is Allowed to Volunteer?”.

Benefits

Sometimes people worry that if they volunteer, they will lose their benefits. This is not true. Benefits advisers are not always well trained about volunteering so they will sometimes tell people that they cannot volunteer even though they can. If your benefits adviser tells you that you cannot volunteer, you can ask the organisation that you are volunteering for, or your local Volunteer Centre, to speak to them. Volunteering England has information on volunteering and benefits that you or the organisation you volunteer with can show your adviser, including the Information Sheet “Volunteering and State Benefits”.

The one general rule is that the organisation cannot give you any money except a reimbursement of money that you have to spend in order to volunteer (travel, meals whilst out volunteering, care costs etc.). The organisation should collect receipts from you and reimburse exactly what you have spent. This means that, if you needed to, you could show your benefits adviser that any money you were getting was a reimbursement and not a payment.

Job Seeker’s Allowance
If you are claiming JSA, then you can do as much volunteering as you want as long as you continue to actively seek work. This will mean that you will have to show that you are looking for work and applying for jobs where appropriate. Organisations should be flexible about arranging the times that you volunteer so you can sign on and go to interviews.

Income Support
Volunteering will not affect your Income Support as long as you are not receiving any money other than reimbursement of expenses.

Incapacity Benefit
There is a lot of confusion over Incapacity Benefit because there used to be a rule that people on Incapacity Benefit could only volunteer for 16 hours a week. This rule no longer applies, although sometimes benefits advisers might tell you that it does. If you are receiving Incapacity Benefit then you can volunteer for as long as you want. People often worry that starting to volunteer will automatically trigger an investigation into their need to claim Incapacity Benefit, but in fact this very rarely happens. Volunteering is very different to paid work because you can decide what hours you volunteer, when you go in and what sort of tasks you want to do.

Asylum seekers
Since April 2000, asylum seekers (people in the process of applying for refugee status) have been allowed to volunteer. This includes while they are appealing against a decision to refuse them asylum. If you are an asylum seeker, the Home Office UK Border Agency suggests you should be careful that you volunteer for a not-for-profit organisation (an organisation such as a charity, school or hospital that works to help people or the environment rather than to make money). If you are worried whether or not an organisation that you want to volunteer for is not-for-profit, you can talk to your local Volunteer Centre or ring the Volunteering England Information Line (0800 028 3304). If you are an asylum seeker then you are entitled to receive out-of-pocket expenses just like other volunteers.

Volunteers from overseas
See the Volunteering England Information Sheet "Accepting Volunteers from Overseas".

Ex-offenders
Many people with past convictions worry that they will not be able to volunteer. This is not true at all. Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act only organisations that work with vulnerable people are allowed to ask you about spent convictions or carry out a Criminal Record Bureau check. There are numerous volunteering roles where you would not come into contact with vulnerable people and so organisations would have no right to question you about spent convictions.

Organisations who work with vulnerable people should have policies about how they will work with ex-offenders to make sure that they treat you fairly and do not discriminate against you. Unfortunately, some organisations may treat ex-offenders unfairly, but most voluntary organisations will be fair and will want to involve as many people as they can. The best thing that you can do is to be open and willing to discuss things with them. You may want to talk to them about:

• How long ago you were convicted
• Whether you have more than one conviction
• How your life and circumstances have changed since you were convicted
• The circumstances surrounding the offence.

Anything you tell an organisation about past convictions should remain confidential. It is an offence for them to pass on information about your past convictions unless you have told them that they are allowed to. If you are worried, ask them about who in the organisation will be told about your past convictions and ask to see their Data Protection policy so that you know how information will be stored and how long it will be kept for.

Children and young people
If you are under 18, then there is no legal reason why you cannot volunteer, but you will find that not all organisations will be willing to take you on. People under 18 (and in particular those under 16) are classed as vulnerable, so any organisation who takes young volunteers on has to be careful to protect them. This may mean that organisations with volunteer roles where you would not be supervised all the time or may have to do something risky would not be happy taking you on. Organisations also have a legal duty to protect the people that they work with, so they may feel that people under a certain age are not mature or experienced enough to carry out certain types of work safely. However, there should still be plenty of roles that are safe and suitable and many people under 18 do volunteer.

Last reviewed: June 2008

We have made every effort to ensure that this Information Sheet was correct at the time of publication. It is intended as a summary of relevant issues and suggests further sources of information. Legal advice should be sought where appropriate.

For more information, please contact
Volunteering England Information Service
Information@volunteeringengland.org
Freephone/textphone: 0800 028 3304 (Mon-Fri, 10.30-12.30 and 14.00-16.00)
www.volunteering.org.uk/

Volunteering England
Regent’s Wharf
8 All Saints Street
London N1 9RL

All of Volunteering England’s Information Sheets are available at:
www.volunteering.org.uk/information

For more information on managing volunteers, please visit
The Good Practice Bank at www.volunteering.org.uk/goodpractice