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How does a charity take on volunteers and staff safely?

Taking on charity volunteers and staff brings duties that start before anyone is recruited. The hub takes trustees and managers through them in order: whether a role is voluntary or paid, recruiting volunteers, safeguarding and criminal record checks, then employing staff, from cost and status to payroll, pensions and the end of a grant post. England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ, and each page says how.

23 steps, in the order you meet them.

The moment a charity has people it acquires duties it did not have before: as an employer, as an organisation working with beneficiaries, and as a data controller holding information about both.

Safeguarding is the highest-consequence area in this guide. Several steps here carry criminal exposure. Each of them says so at the top and names the point at which you need someone qualified, rather than leaving you to find out afterwards.

Look up

Glossary

Tools

  • DBS level checker — Tool: planned
  • Full cost recovery calculator — Tool: planned
  • Is this a serious incident? — Tool: planned

Templates

  • Contract outline — Template: planned
  • DBS records log — Template: planned
  • Safeguarding reporting log — Template: planned
  • Volunteer agreement — Template: planned

Understand

Do

Common questions

Yes, if the charity reimburses what the volunteer actually spent, with evidence, and nothing else. A round sum, or a payment that carries on through sickness or holiday, can become taxable pay and help turn the volunteer into a worker. Set up a volunteer expenses policy that stays non-taxable sets out the test.

In England and Wales, a safeguarding policy should cover what the Charity Commission lists as trustees' musts and shoulds, read through its own key, and a review after every serious incident as well as once a year. Scotland and Northern Ireland use different sources. Write a safeguarding policy takes each list in turn.

A charity taking on its first employee registers with HMRC as an employer before the first payday, does and copies the right-to-work check, gives the written statement before day one, puts employers' liability insurance in place and assesses the pension duty. The step on the day-one paperwork, "What paperwork must be in place before someone starts?", is awaiting expert review.

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