Volunteering and Risk Management: The issues
There are several related, but slightly different issues which this project seeks to address, which can be summarised as follows:
- Concern within the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) of the ‘perceived' increase in insurance premiums over recent years, especially in relation to public liability cover for volunteers;
- Concern within the VCS of the ‘perceived' increase in negligence claims for personal injury being brought against volunteers, especially in the sports and outdoor recreation field;
- Concern within the VCS that the apparent increase in such claims are impacting negatively on the willingness of people to volunteer and expose themselves to this element of risk;
- Evidence from the BRTF and others that the so-called ‘compensation culture' is in fact a myth and that there has been no increase in recent years in the number of negligence claims for personal injury;
- Recognition that many organisations within the VCS, especially smaller agencies, have been slow to embrace the need to develop appropriate risk management systems and procedures;
- Recognition that much good practice on managing risk does exist within the VCS and that much could be achieved through wider dissemination of this practice.
