Why People Volunteer

Many people from all walks of life get involved in volunteering in a range of different organisations to which they support and believe in, here is a small selection of the reasons why:

To Make A Difference
Many people take up volunteering roles in areas they have a passion for, to help the cause and to make a difference. It also initiates the chance to give back to the community by offering your services to help make a difference to those who need it.

To Gain New Skills
For some people volunteering is a way to gain and enhance new skills, which can lead to their employment. Over 70% of employers from the leading companies say they would rather employ someone with volunteering experience. Volunteering will enhance your CV and make you appeal more to the employer’s eye which will help you when applying for jobs.

To Meet New People
For many volunteering is a chance to socially interact, to meet new people and make new friends and to get to know the local community in a way you couldn’t before. You can have some amazing experiences with people, all in different stages and paths of life.

To Build Confidence And To Feel Good
Many people who volunteer, do so to show their appreciation for the work that these organisations do either because they have been helped by an organisation or someone they know has, and by getting involved in volunteering they are able to do the same and use their experience to help others in similar circumstances.

Where Can I Volunteer?
There are many different platforms you can use to find a wide variety of volunteering roles. One of them being on our website. This website is extremely useful for those looking to volunteer as it will list all the volunteer opportunities within your area, in which you can then apply to the ones of your interest.

You can find roles from different organisations ranging between various hours and times to help find the role for you and what best fits with your schedule, some volunteer opportunities include: Volunteer food bank driver, Volunteer warehouse worker, Volunteer administrator, Volunteer receptionist, Volunteer trustee/ board member and Food pantry volunteer you can even volunteer from home.

At this time with a large number of individuals volunteering for the NHS and other organisations also on a recruitment drive, it is important that we consider what needs to be done to ensure it is done legitimately, legally and safely to protect both your organisation and the volunteer.

Volunteers using their own vehicles in their voluntary activities should tell their insurance company. They should make it clear that they will only receive out-of-pocket expenses, and make it clear that this is not commercial use of the vehicle.

Most major UK based insurers have already said they will not charge clients for using vehicles during this pandemic, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t declare the usage to your insurers first. Especially if the vehicle is being used to carry passengers, goods or deliver supplies.

Organisations should ensure that volunteers have told their insurance companies about their volunteer driving. An easy way to do this is to give your volunteers a standard letter with a return slip for the insurance company to complete. Asking for proof that this has been done is a good risk control step for the charity or organisation to follow.

Vehicle safety

• Your organisation should ask to see an MOT test certificate the vehicle is required to have one in place. Usually when the vehicle is over three years old
• Your organisation should also be confident that the vehicle is safe to operate. You may want to create a checklist that the volunteer can complete and submit as evidence that they are operating a road worthy vehicle. It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure that the vehicle they are driving is in a road worthy condition each and every time they use it. However, your organisation has a duty of care to other service users and the wider public, do acting responsibly and taking steps to mitigate any risk is important.

Seat belts – There are legal requirements for wearing seat belts, it’s important to remember that:-

• Cars must have both front and rear seat belts fitted and all passengers should wear them.
• Passengers aged 14 and over are legally responsible for ensuring that they wear a seat belt.
• Drivers are responsible for ensuring that children under the age of 14 are using an appropriate child or booster seat. Find out more about car seats here.

Find out more information from RoSPA on seatbelts and the law

Fitness to drive

The volunteer must tell the DVLA if they have a driving licence and:

• They develop a ‘notifiable’ medical condition or disability
• a condition or disability has got worse since they got their licence

Notifiable conditions are anything that could affect someone’s ability to drive safely. They can include:

• diabetes or taking insulin
• syncope (fainting)
• heart conditions (including atrial fibrillationand pacemakers)
• sleep apnoea
• epilepsy
• strokes
• glaucoma

The DVLA will then make a decision about the person’s fitness to drive.

Not telling the DVLA about a condition or disability is a criminal offence. The driver could also invalidate their insurance if they do not follow medical advice not to drive.

Find out more about Medical conditions, disabilities and driving

Training

Volunteers should be trained, however given the short term nature of some volunteering periods, this may not be fully practical or a viable investment in the individuals, but appropriate information should be collated by your organisation, such as driving license information.

Training to consider:

If volunteers are carrying elderly or disabled people or children, particularly in picking up and setting down passengers; you may wish to consider providing training in:

• Personal Safety for Lone Workers
• Customer Service
• Manual Handling
• Equality, Diversity and Discrimination
• Safeguarding Adults
• Safeguarding Children
• Workplace Health and Safety
• First Aid

There are also useful safety resources available from ROSPA and Think!.

Identification

It is a good idea for voluntary organisations to consider providing ID for volunteer drivers so that the people they are picking up can clearly recognise them. The identification should include the main telephone number for the organisation and be clearly visible.

Accidents, illness or injury

In the event of an accident, the organisation and the emergency services should be informed immediately. All claims should be reported to the motor insurers regardless of fault as soon as possible. Most insurance companies will allow you to do this online. You may also need to make an online report to the police.

Good practice

• Driving licences should be checked when the volunteer starts and regularly while they are volunteering, to make sure that they don’t have any recent or serious driving convictions.
• Licences should be full and not provisional, preferably without endorsements.
• If a driver has penalty points on their licence, the organisation will need to decide whether or not they think the driver is be suitable for a role.
• Some organisations may want to set a minimum requirement for driving experience. Age discrimination should be avoided as long as a younger driver is experienced enough and an older driver is confident driving.

Insurance for volunteer drivers
If your organisation owns the vehicle being used by a volunteer, it is responsible for arranging insurance.

If the volunteer owns the vehicle, they are responsible for arranging insurance. They should inform their insurer that they are using it as part of a volunteering role.

Guide to Volunteer Driving

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The above document lists insurance companies that don’t charge extra premiums for volunteer driving.

Community VISION aims to support the Voluntary and Community Sector organisations by:

Improving Volunteer Management:-

• Give structure to your volunteering organisation
• Enhance the volunteering experience for your volunteers
• Standardise professional processes and procedures across your organisation
• Get the most from your volunteers
• Retain volunteers more effectively
• Reduce potential risks for your volunteers, service users and organisation
• Demonstrate your investment in volunteers to potential funders

Providing resources, advice and guidance to Volunteer Managers:-

• Information and good practice guidance on the development of policy and procedure in respect of managing volunteers
• Developing and promoting volunteering opportunities within the community
• Acting as an independent broker for potential volunteers and volunteer involving organisations
• Helping volunteer involving organisations in the support and management of their volunteers
• Campaigning on issues relevant to volunteering both locally and regionally
• Providing opportunities for networking and communication for the Voluntary and Community Sector

Access our Resources and Guides

Encouraging good practice for your organisation:-

It is important to spend time creating robust systems that provide a professional structure around the recruitment and management of volunteers of all ages. Cutting corners can lead to disillusionment and a lack of commitment from your volunteers, which could lead to a poor service to clients, that may lead to a reduction in future volunteers. Getting things wrong can also cost your organisation financially by way of legal expense due to civil litigation.

Access the Volunteer Toolkit