Tag: Volunteers

Who is entitled to Minimum Wage?

People classed as ‘workers’ must be at least school leaving age to get the National Minimum Wage. They must be 23 or over to get the National Living Wage.

Contracts for payments below the minimum wage are not legally binding. The worker is still entitled to the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.

Workers are also entitled to the correct minimum wage if they’re:

part-time
casual labourers, for example someone hired for one day
agency workers
workers and homeworkers paid by the number of items they make
apprentices
trainees, workers on probation
disabled workers
agricultural workers
foreign workers
seafarers
offshore workers

Apprentices

Apprentices are entitled to the apprentice rate if they’re either:

under 19
19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

Apprentices over 19 who have completed the first year of their apprenticeship are entitled to the correct minimum wage for their age.

Not entitled to the minimum wage

The following types of workers are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage:

self-employed people running their own business
company directors
people who are volunteers or voluntary workers
workers on a government employment programme, such as the Work Programme
members of the armed forces
family members of the employer living in the employer’s home
non-family members living in the employer’s home who share in the work and leisure activities, are treated as one of the family and are not charged for meals or accommodation, for example au pairs
workers younger than school leaving age (usually 16)
higher and further education students on work experience or a work placement up to one year
people shadowing others at work
workers on government pre-apprenticeships schemes
people on the following European Union (EU) programmes: Leonardo da Vinci, Erasmus+, Comenius
people working on a Jobcentre Plus Work trial for up to 6 weeks
share fishermen
prisoners
people living and working in a religious community

Employers who offer internships (sometimes called ‘work placements’ or ‘work experience’) should check if the person is entitled to the minimum wage.

Voluntary work

You’re classed as doing voluntary work if you can only get certain limited benefits (for example reasonable travel or lunch expenses) and you’re working for a:

charity
voluntary organisation or associated fundraising body
statutory body

Contact the Acas helpline to find out if you should be getting the minimum wage.

From The Charity Commission: How We Identify Risks

To achieve our purpose and fulfil our statutory functions, we are risk-led in our regulation, which means:

being proactive in identifying risks and intervening, where possible, to prevent harm before it occurs
addressing harm effectively where it occurs
focusing our resources effectively on the highest risks

How we identify risks

We identify risks from a wide range of sources including, but not limited to:

information charities include in their annual return and accounts
serious incident reports from trustees
reporting by auditors and independent examiners
reports of serious wrongdoing in charities from employees and volunteers, including whistleblowing
complaints from the public or public sources
our engagement with charities
our work with other bodies, departments and agencies
concerns raised in the media and by members of parliament

We place an emphasis on being proactive and identifying risks as soon as possible. To achieve this we:

identify trends to get a better understanding of the evolving threats and risks to the ability of charity to thrive and inspire trust and confidence
analyse the data, information and knowledge that we gather from the sources mentioned above
use our awareness of changes to the environment in which charities are operating and the main challenges facing the charity sector

How we respond to risks

Our approach is underlined by our general functions as set out above, which include:

determining whether institutions are charities
encouraging and facilitating the better administration of charities
identifying and investigating apparent misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of charities and taking corresponding remedial or protective action

We will prioritise our casework resources towards addressing the highest risks, those which have the potential to cause the highest level of harm to public trust and confidence, or which may affect trustees’ ability to comply with their duties.

The level and nature of some risks will be such that it would not be proportionate to use our resources to undertake direct regulatory action or engagement with the charity. However, this does not mean that we do not want to be notified of these risks. Whilst we may not take regulatory action, we may still contact a charity’s trustees to alert them to the concerns raised with us. We may keep such information in our records and reassess our response if further information comes to light. We will also use the information to inform our wider understanding of risks. This may result in actions that deal with risk in a thematic way, for example publishing a report of our overall findings or issuing a regulatory alert to all or a relevant category of charities.

There will be some limited cases where the level and nature of risk identified means that another regulator or agency is better placed to respond, for example serious criminal matters. In such cases, we will work with the other regulator or agency to ensure the appropriate response.

An increased level of Commission involvement with a charity or on an issue does not necessarily mean that something has already gone wrong. It may simply mean that a risk requires a greater regulatory involvement or scrutiny.

Since the nature and level of a risk may change during the course of a particular case, we may need to periodically review our response.

You can read more here

The Legal Status of Volunteers

Your charity could get into legal problems if you don’t clearly distinguish between its paid staff and volunteers. It’s possible for volunteers to claim they have the same rights as employees, including claiming unfair dismissal for example.

A written role description for your volunteers can help make it clear what the boundaries and expectations are. It’s important that the role description could not be confused with an employment contract or job description. For example it must not require volunteers to work particular hours.

Insurance to cover volunteers

Make sure your charity’s insurance covers your volunteers. Even if your charity doesn’t employ staff, you may still decide to take out employers’ liability cover for volunteers.

Check whether your insurance policy:

includes volunteers
covers the activities volunteers will be doing
states any age limits for volunteers

Expenses for volunteers

Volunteers aren’t paid for their time but should be paid for any out-of-pocket expenses. These expenses could include:

travel
postage and telephone costs if working from home
essential equipment, such as protective clothing

Volunteers should provide receipts for any expenses they incur.

If a volunteer receives any type of reward or payment other than expenses, they may see this as a salary and they could be classed as an employee or worker. This then gives them some employment rights.

Criminal records checks

If your volunteers will be working with children or vulnerable adults, by law you can get a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS, formerly the Criminal Records Bureau) on them.

The DBS will search police records to identify people who are unsuitable for certain types of work, especially work involving children and vulnerable adults.

DBS checks are free for volunteers.