Frequently Asked Questions

How will I know the best role for me?
What happens once I have found something I am interested in?
How long will it take before I can get started?
How much of my time will volunteering take up?
What skills do I need?
Are there any rules that I should know about before I volunteer?
How much does it cost?
Will it affect my benefits?

1. How will I know the best role for me?

Think about how much time you have available and what you really care about.
Perhaps, you love animals or maybe gardening's your thing. Maybe you've got life experiences that you could bring to a role. Spend some time searching our online database for ideas - you can always ask the organisations questions if you want to find out more - there's no obligation, they'll send you some more information about them and about their volunteering opportunities.

Give us a ring, we can help you. We'll ask you questions like: what are your hobbies or interests; in a perfect world what would your job be; is their something you would like to learn about. Even if the perfect volunteering role is not out there for you - there maybe stepping stones you can take before you get there.

2. What happens once I have found something I am interested in?

Contact the organisation - they'll send you an application pack or they might even ask you to come and meet them. Each organisation will have a recruitment process to go through before you start volunteering.

Before you complete the application form, or go for a meeting with them try and find out as much information about the organisation and about the voluntary role as possible. You don't want to start volunteering and later find you don't like doing it. You'll have the role description already, but you can also search the internet for the organisation's website, maybe contact them and ask them for their annual report. Make sure you know about the charity, its aims and activities, and make sure you have a clear idea of the work you will be involved in before you start.

3. How long will it take before I can get started?

Organisations have different ways of recruiting their volunteers. Most will probably not interview you formally but they will want to have an informal chat following their own recruitment procedures. However, if the role has some responsibility - e.g. for money or accounting, or if you will be working with vulnerable people or certain kinds of equipment, the interview may be more formal (for some roles you may need to complete a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check) In either case this gives you, and the organisation, a chance to assess each other and an opportunity to ask questions.

The sort of questions the organisation will probably want to ask you will vary from organisation to organisation and depend on the type of voluntary work you're interested in. However, a typical interviewer (formal or informal) may ask any of the following:

why you are interested in volunteering
what sort of voluntary work are you interested in
what particular skills or experience you have
what new skills would you like to learn through your volunteer work
how much time you have to offer

You can ask them anything that you feel unsure about. You may want to ask about the following:

Reimbursement of expenses
Training/qualification opportunities
What variety will there be in the work?
What opportunities for development or progression the role offers?
Support/supervision (someone to talk to regularly about how you are getting on)

4. How much of my time will volunteering take up?

No matter what your availability is, we can generally find something to fit with your schedule - from a couple of hours up to four or five days a week. We've got roles available weekdays and weekends, day time and evenings. So if you're looking for something to do between dropping off and collecting your children from school, or you work during the week, or the only day you have to yourself is a Sunday it shouldn't be a problem.

It is important however, to check out with any organisation you are interested in volunteering for, what time commitment they have in mind. You will need to work out how many hours you will volunteer for and for how long you wish to volunteer.
How much time you give is up to you. You can find a short placement that only takes an hour a month - for example, if you work as a befriended, this could take no more than a few hours of your time.
For most organisations it's your long-term commitment that's vital - particularly if the role involves project work, caring, befriending or mentoring for example.

5. What skills do I need?

None - and you may gain skills and experience that you can later use elsewhere, in paid employment or another organisation.
Some positions demand a certain amount of experience and qualifications. The organisation will be able to tell you straight away if this is the case with the position you are interested in doing. However, some organisations will offer you the training to enable you to do the work, for example mentors are trained before they are allowed to volunteer.
It's becoming more common for organisations to offer volunteers qualifications such as an NVQ, but it is still unusual. Don't dismiss an organisation just because it doesn't run an accredited volunteer programme. You may find that no matter what the opportunity you still learn a lot and gain valuable experience, skills and a reference.
Training and support If your motivation for volunteering is training make sure you clarify this with the organisation before you start.
To some extent training can depend on the type of work you will be doing. So, if you're spending one day clearing overgrowth from paths, expect about 15 minutes at the start being told what to do, how to use the tools and what health and safety precautions to take. But if you volunteer to give welfare benefits advice you should get much more training. You might get 10 two-hour training sessions spread over several weeks before you see a client, plus ongoing training to keep you up-to-date.
You should be supported formally through supervisions, and when, where and with whom should be set out in your induction. These are opportunities to talk about things you might want to learn and to comment on how your volunteering work is going.

6. Are there any rules that I should know about before I volunteer?

As a volunteer you can offer varying levels of commitment and responsibility to an organisation, what you are willing to give should be discussed in your induction or at supervision if things change. However, as a volunteer you should be reliable, keeping to times and dates and letting people know if you cannot make it in to the organisation. You should carry out your tasks and comply with all the organisations policies and procedures. If you encounter problems don't be afraid to talk to your supervisor or the appropriate person. You should respect the organisations and the confidentiality of their clients.
These 'rules' are set out in a volunteer agreement that you might be asked to read and sign during your induction. You will also receive the organisations policies and procedures during your induction. These are documents that set out rules of engagement and behaviour that the organisation expects from all of its volunteers and paid workers alike.
Grievances and leaving a placement
You are not legally bound by a contract, as paid workers are, and therefore, are free to leave whenever you like. So, if you don't like the work you can leave. You are under no real obligation to keep volunteering for an organisation that you unhappy in. But our advice would be to talk to someone in the organisation before you leave. You might find that the organisation can do something to change the circumstances or offer you something different that you might enjoy. If you feel that you have been mistreated as a volunteer you have the same right to grievance and appeal procedures as paid employees, these procedures can vary, but should be set out in your induction.

7. How much does it cost?

As a volunteer you will not be paid for your time, the law is very strict about this and payment includes gifts. However out of pocket expenses i.e. travel, lunch and equipment costs are usually repaid. These payments can usually only be made if a receipt is produced. And lunch expenses can only be claimed if you are working both a morning and afternoon session. The organisation will advise you when and how payments will be made.

8. Will it affect my benefits?

Many benefits advisers are poorly informed about volunteering and often give people the wrong advice. In actual fact the rules are quite simple, and it's well worth knowing them so that you can advise volunteers if they have any queries.

Definition of voluntary work
All benefits rulings agree that voluntary work is work for a not-for-profit organisation, or work for someone who is not a member of your family, where only reasonable expenses are paid.

Job Seeker's Allowance
People on JSA can do as much voluntary work as they want as long as they remain available for and are actively seeking work. This will mean that they will have to show that they are looking for work and applying for jobs where appropriate. As an organisation you will have to give your volunteers some flexibility, as they will need to visit the Job Centre for meetings and to sign on, and will need to attend interviews when they come up. If an individual is volunteering, then they are entitled to 48 hours' notice if they are asked to attend an interview and a week's notice before starting work. These are concessions to the 24 hour notice normally allowed.

Income Support
Volunteering should not affect someone's Income Support as long as they 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 individuals in receipt of the benefit could only volunteer for 16 hours a week. This rule no longer applies, although many people are still being told that it does. If you are in receipt of 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. Occasionally there is also some confusion about volunteering and 'permitted work' (similar to the old 'therapeutic earnings'). The permitted work rule applies only to paid work and should not affect volunteers. Claimants should be entitled to volunteer without it being recognised as permitted work.

Disability Living Allowance
DLA is an allowance paid in acknowledgement of the fact that life for someone with a disability may be more expensive - for instance, someone with mobility problems may be reliant on taxis. Volunteering will not affect whether an individual receives this benefit or not.

Expenses & Benefits
Apart from DLA, the above benefits are open only to people who are not in paid employment. Any kind of paid work would jeopardise an individual's right to claim benefits, and they may find that their payments are docked or suspended. However, expenses do not constitute a payment, so volunteers can receive reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses (any expenses that they have incurred because they are volunteering) without their benefits being affected.

During summer 2006 there was some controversy over volunteers in receipt of state benefits and whether they were allowed to have their meal expenses reimbursed. On 9 October 2006 the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) announced that they will allow all volunteers to be reimbursed for their meal expenses. Guidance has been sent to benefit staff to highlight this fact. However, information does sometimes take time to trickle down, so Volunteering England's Information Team would be interested to hear if any volunteers experience problems with claiming meal expenses as a legitimate expense.

It is important to remember that only actual expenses should be reimbursed. If a volunteer pays £4.50 on travel every day, it might seem easier to round the sum up to £5, but this is not a reimbursement of an actual expense and would constitute a payment. It is a good idea to collect receipts and keep records of what expenses you have paid, so that if there is any kind of query it can clearly be shown that you are reimbursing money rather than making a payment.

There have been some problems in the past where volunteers on benefits have been given advance payments (for instance for something that would cost a lot, such as childcare or a weekly travelcard). The Social Security Amendment (Volunteers) Regulations 2001 clarified income support, JSA, and Incapacity Benefit rules to make it clear that volunteers can receive advance payment for expenses to be incurred in the future. It is still a good idea to keep receipts and records, and the volunteer would have to repay to the organisation any money that was not spent.

Occasionally a volunteer may have problems convincing their benefits adviser that they are volunteering and not working. If this is the case, the volunteer manager should be prepared to talk to the benefits adviser on behalf of the volunteer, and provide information about what the organisation does and the volunteer's role within the organisation. If the volunteer still has problems then it may be worthwhile using an expenses record form, as this will enable the volunteer manager to record exactly what money the volunteer is getting and to show that it is a reimbursement rather than a payment. The volunteer manager could also send a letter to the benefits office. Samples of an expenses record form and letters to the JobCentre Plus are available from Volunteering England's Information Service.

Informing Benefits Advisers
it is good practice to inform volunteers that it is compulsory for volunteers to notify benefits advisers, although the organisation cannot force the issue if the volunteer decides not to disclose this information. Because of negative attitudes and lack of information on the part of advisers, many people feel more comfortable keeping their volunteering secret. As an organisation you have no duty to inform the benefits office of who is volunteering for you, so leave it up to the individual volunteer to decide. Do bear in mind that if someone has not informed the benefits office that they are volunteering, they may be wary of their name or photograph appearing in any publicity, so do always check first before 'outing' someone as a volunteer.

Expenses & Equal Opportunities
Most people in receipt of benefits are on very low incomes and could not afford to volunteer if their expenses were not paid. When you decide how you will pay expenses, make sure that you are not creating unnecessary barriers. Many organisations prefer to reimburse expenses weekly or monthly rather than daily and some always reimburse by cheque. This can create problems for someone on a low income who cannot afford to wait for money to be reimbursed. If possible, always try to reimburse expenses on the same day in cash. Do not assume that a small amount of money for you is a small amount of money for everyone else. In particular, asylum seekers in receipt of vouchers have very little access to cash, so may find it difficult to pay for travel or go out and buy a sandwich. If you are not sure which methods of reimbursement suit people, just ask them. In some cases it may be more efficient to develop different systems for different people.