Generate a plain-English volunteer agreement and internal governance policy for your UK charity in minutes. Protect your volunteers' non-employment status and align with NCVO & HMRC expenses guidance.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the UK charity sector. However, poorly drafted volunteer documentation can inadvertently create employment contracts, exposing your charity to claims for minimum wage, holiday pay, and unfair dismissal.
This free tool generates two distinct documents: a Volunteer Agreement (a plain-English summary of expectations given to the volunteer) and a Volunteer Policy (the internal rules your charity follows to recruit, support, and manage volunteers safely).
Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, a contract of employment requires "mutuality of obligation" (an obligation to provide work, and an obligation to accept it) and consideration (usually pay or benefits).
If your volunteers work with children under 18 or adults at risk, they may require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. The generated policy will include appropriate clauses based on your selection regarding vulnerable groups. Standard DBS checks for eligible volunteer roles are free (though an admin fee may apply if using an umbrella body).
No, provided it is correctly drafted. A volunteer agreement should be "binding in honour only". This means neither the charity nor the volunteer is legally obliged to fulfil the "agreement" — it is simply a summary of mutual expectations.
You must be very careful. A small, occasional token of appreciation (like flowers or a card) is generally fine. However, regular gifts, honorariums, or flat "expenses allowances" without receipts can legally constitute "pay", which risks turning the volunteer into an employee under minimum wage laws.
Yes. The generated policy and agreement include clauses referencing the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. It covers how the charity protects the volunteer's data, and the volunteer's responsibility to protect the charity's confidential information.
Volunteer agreements need to set expectations without accidentally creating an employment contract. FundRobin helps UK charities draft volunteer agreements and policies that cover roles, expenses, safeguarding, data protection, and support.
UK volunteer agreements should describe mutual expectations rather than enforceable obligations. Clear wording around expenses, gifts, training, time commitments, and supervision helps protect the volunteer relationship.
If volunteers work with children or adults at risk, the policy needs appropriate DBS, supervision, reporting, and confidentiality language. Data protection clauses should explain how volunteer information is collected and used.
FundRobin brings discovery, fit scoring, proposal drafting, documents, and follow-up into one customer workflow so teams can act on funding intelligence instead of copying it between tools.
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