Use this section if your charity uses volunteers and wants to set out the arrangement clearly. A written volunteer agreement is not a contract of employment and should not read like one, but it helps both sides by recording what the volunteer will do, what support and expenses the charity will provide and what standards of conduct are expected.
Why are volunteers not employees?
A volunteer gives their time freely, without pay and without an obligation to work. If a charity starts to pay a volunteer more than genuine expenses or to require them to work set hours under sanction, the relationship can become one of employment with all the rights and obligations that follow. The Guidance Note: Charity Volunteers explains how to keep the arrangement on the right side of that line and covers related points such as insurance, health and safety and safeguarding checks.
What documents are in this section?
The Short Form Charity Volunteer's Agreement is a simple document suitable for occasional or low-risk volunteering. The Long Form Charity Volunteer's Agreement is fuller and suits volunteers with regular roles, access to beneficiaries or responsibilities that need to be spelled out. Both are drafted so as to avoid creating a contract of employment.
Expenses policies and claim forms for volunteers are in the Expenses for Trustees, Employees and Volunteers section. A home working policy for volunteers is in the Services and Working Arrangements section. Independent groups of supporters who fundraise in aid of the charity are dealt with in the Appeals, Collections and Volunteer Fundraising section.
Charity Volunteers is part of Charity. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Charity for 1 year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a volunteer agreement need such careful wording? +
Because the wrong wording creates an employment relationship. Mutual obligations, required hours enforced as duties, payment beyond genuine expenses or perks with monetary value can turn a volunteer into a worker or employee, with minimum wage, holiday and unfair dismissal rights following. A good volunteer agreement describes hopes and arrangements rather than binding obligations. The long and short form agreements here are drafted on that basis; resist the urge to make them stricter.
Long form or short form volunteer agreement: which do we use? +
Match the role's footprint. The short form suits occasional, low-risk helping: event stewards, one-off drivers, casual gardening. The long form earns its place where the role is regular or touches risk: working with beneficiaries, handling money, representing the charity publicly or using its systems and data, where expectations, confidentiality and safeguarding references need spelling out. Both stay on the right side of the employment status line.
What can we safely pay or provide to volunteers? +
Reimbursement of genuine out of pocket expenses against receipts, travel, meals on duty, necessary equipment, and training needed for the role. What crosses the line: round-sum allowances, payments untethered from actual costs, rewards with monetary value and anything resembling wages, all of which invite worker status and can affect the volunteer's own benefits. Run claims through the volunteer expenses policy and claim form in the Expenses for Trustees, Employees and Volunteers section so the boundary polices itself.
Some of our volunteers help from home. Does that need anything extra? +
A little structure, yes. Home-based volunteering raises three things worth covering: data protection when charity information lives on personal devices, health and safety expectations for the volunteer's working setup and communication so remote volunteers stay connected to supervision and support. A short policy handles all three without bureaucratising goodwill. The Volunteer Home Working Policy for charities in the Services and Working Arrangements section is scaled for exactly that.
