39. Should we pay our volunteers expenses?

Volunteers are already donating time to their organisations. It would be wrong to expect them to end up out of pocket - effectively donating money - as well.

Payment of expenses is important from an equal opportunities point of view. People on benefits or low incomes should not be excluded because they cannot afford the cost of travel or meals out.

Not paying expenses will make it harder to recruit, as the more barriers you place in the way of volunteers the less likely they are to want to volunteer for you.