Volunteer

Volunteering is not a legal status so much as the absence of one. There is no contract, no obligation to attend, and no payment beyond reimbursement of what the person actually spent. Take away any of those three and the picture changes.

The risk is accidental worker status: paying more than genuine expenses, promising a benefit, or imposing an obligation to attend can create the mutuality of obligation that makes someone a worker or an employee. That brings the minimum wage, holiday pay and other rights into play — usually retrospectively, which is when charities discover it.

Use a volunteer agreement rather than anything resembling a contract, reimburse actual expenses against receipts, and see volunteer agreements for the wording that keeps the distinction clear.