How do I recruit and induct a volunteer properly?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: covered — the same recruitment steps, with OSCR grounding its expectation in the trustees’ general duties, and a different check: PVG scheme membership, dealt with on its own page. Northern Ireland: covered — CCNI sets out its own “must” for staff and volunteer checks, Volunteer Now’s standards supply the recruitment detail, and the check runs through AccessNI, dealt with on its own page.

The regulator’s expectation names volunteers

The Charity Commission expects trustees to make sure volunteers, like staff, are suitable for their roles. So volunteer recruitment needs the same care as recruitment for a paid post. Many charities recruit volunteers far more loosely, on the basis that they are “only helping”. The Commission’s guidance closes that off.

This step is for the volunteer coordinator, manager or safeguarding lead. It assumes the role already has a role description and a volunteer agreement. The Commission’s wording below applies in England and Wales. OSCR in Scotland and CCNI in Northern Ireland frame the same expectation differently, covered at the end.

Its core safeguarding guidance says, verbatim: “You must make sure that trustees, staff and volunteers are suitable and legally able to act in their positions.”

That “must” is the Commission’s word, used on its own published key. The key reads, verbatim: “‘must’ means something is a legal or regulatory requirement or duty that trustees must comply with; ‘should’ means something is good practice that the Commission expects trustees to follow.” So this is a regulatory requirement the Commission says it will hold trustees to. It is not a statute, and no single statute in England and Wales sets out a general safeguarding duty.

It also applies to every charity, not only those working with children or adults at risk — the Commission’s own words on that are on establishing that safeguarding applies to you.

Whether a criminal record check is allowed is a separate question

Which criminal record check you may ask for, if any, is a legal test that turns on what the role involves. It is not a box to tick on a recruitment form. Most recruitment checklists get this wrong: they put “criminal record check: yes / no” on the form, and a manager ticks a box on instinct.

Get it wrong in one direction and you run a check you were not entitled to. Get it wrong in the other and you miss one the role needed. It does not belong in a recruitment checklist, so this page does not answer it.

Take it to Is this role in regulated activity?, which works through the test. Keep the answer in its own written record, separate from the volunteer’s file.

In England and Wales, one more point from the Commission belongs here. Its guidance says trustees should consider DBS checks “as part of a wide range of checks”. A certificate reports the past. It says nothing about references, identity, or whether this person suits this role.

A volunteer recruitment sequence

No source prescribes the recruitment steps themselves. What follows is practice, not law — a sequence that turns the Commission’s expectation into something you can evidence.

1. Expression of interest. Ask what the person wants to do and why, against the role description.
2. A conversation. Informal is fine. Note what was discussed.
3. Identity. See and record proof of who the person is.
4. References. Take them, and read them. For roles with children or adults at risk, ask the referee directly about suitability for that work.
5. Suitability for this role. A short, dated note of why the person is suitable. This is the line that answers the Commission’s “must”.
6. The check decision. Taken separately, on the regulated-activity test.
7. Induction. Before the person starts, not after their first session.

Run the same steps for every volunteer in the same role. Consistency is what makes the file persuasive later.

What induction should cover

Induction is where the volunteer learns what the charity expects and whom to talk to. In England and Wales the Commission says a charity with staff or volunteers should have a clear code of conduct. Beyond that, the content is practice. Most inductions cover:

• the role description and the volunteer agreement
• the code of conduct
• the safeguarding policy, and the name of the person to go to with a concern — see appointing a safeguarding lead
• how to claim expenses — see setting a volunteer expenses policy
• health and safety for the role, and what insurance covers volunteers — see insuring and risk-assessing your volunteers

If you do not yet have a safeguarding policy, the governance page on adopting one covers whether it is required and who should own it.

Scotland

The recruit-and-induct sequence is the same. What sits behind it is framed differently.

OSCR does not use the Commission’s must/should key. It grounds its expectation in the trustees’ general duties under the 2005 Act. Its safeguarding guidance says, verbatim: “Any failure by charity trustees to manage safeguarding risks adequately can be a failure in charity trustee duties and would be of serious regulatory concern to OSCR.”

The National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland adds the recruitment expectation directly. Organisations working with children and young people “are expected to have safe recruitment practices”, and should train “staff, volunteers and board or committee members”.

In Scotland the check is membership of the PVG scheme, not a one-off certificate. It is a separate regime with its own legal requirements. It is dealt with on running the check in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland

CCNI uses an explicit must/should key, like the Commission. Its Guide 5 says, verbatim: “If your charity works with children, young people or adults at risk of harm, you must put in place appropriate safeguarding arrangements.” Those arrangements include “staff and volunteer checks; policies and procedures; training for all staff and volunteers”. As with the Commission, that “must” is CCNI’s word, not a named statute.

For the detail, CCNI points to Volunteer Now’s nine safeguarding standards. The second is about recruitment: the organisation “consistently applies a thorough and clearly defined method of recruiting staff and volunteers in line with legislative requirement and best practice”. Volunteer Now is a sector body, not a regulator. CCNI treats its standards as the reference point.

In Northern Ireland the check runs through AccessNI. It is dealt with on running the check in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Once the volunteer is recruited, the next two steps settle what expenses you can pay them and whether they are insured.

Common mistake: skipping suitability checks because the person is “only a volunteer”

Volunteers are seen as helpers rather than people the charity is answerable for. In England and Wales the Commission’s “must” names volunteers in terms, and on its own key “must” means a legal or regulatory requirement.

Common mistake: deciding on the recruitment form whether to run a criminal record check

It looks like one more box. Which check, if any, is lawful is a legal test, not a risk judgement. A checklist answer sends the charity to the wrong level in either direction. The question belongs on the regulated-activity page.

Common mistake: treating a criminal record certificate as the whole of vetting

The certificate is the visible, filed thing. In England and Wales the Commission says DBS checks should be considered “as part of a wide range of checks”. A certificate reports the past. It says nothing about references, identity or suitability for this role.

Worked example

Tollgate Youth CIO recruits a volunteer to help at its Friday-evening sessions.

It runs the identity, reference and suitability steps as it would for its one paid post, and minutes the Commission’s “must” as the reason. The file shows an expression of interest, a note of the conversation, identity seen, two references read, and a dated suitability note.

It does not answer the check question on the form. It takes the role to the regulated-activity test, works through it, and records the answer on a separate sheet. The two are kept apart because one is recruitment practice and the other is a statutory test. If either is ever questioned, each can be shown on its own terms.