Team London Volunteering Microsite

Team London requires all organisations who recruit volunteers through our website to agree to the Team London Best Practice guidelines. This outlines best practice for volunteer management in line with Greater London Volunteering and NCVO guidelines.

Team London Best Practice sets out what is expected of organisations who will be using Team London volunteers to support their projects, events and initiatives, and is designed to ensure that volunteers are supported, well managed, clear about their roles and responsibilities, and treated fairly.

Team London Best Practice Guidelines

• Volunteers should only ever be involved because they add value and should not be used to replace paid staff or to reduce costs.
• All volunteer roles should either help to create functions that would not exist in the absence of volunteers, or enhance an existing function in a way that would not happen without volunteers.
• All volunteer roles should provide volunteers with high levels of satisfaction, and the chance to gain new or enhance existing skills and experiences.
• Organisations must ensure that they provide appropriate volunteer insurance cover.
• Volunteers should always receive an induction or introduction to the organisation and any training that is relevant to their role. This should ensure that volunteers understand their responsibilities and ensure they can carry out their role safely.
• You should include Health & Safety, outline of roles and responsibilities, practicalities of the role and identify a contact in the organisation as well as support and supervision arrangements.
• Wherever possible volunteers should be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses incurred while volunteering. This may include travel expenses or refreshments. The volunteer must always be informed before they start the role whether expenses are being reimbursed. The volunteer role description should be transparent around this issue.
• Organisations must provide access to an identified support person who will be the main point of contact for the volunteers.
• Organisations should have a problem solving procedure in place for when things go wrong. Find out more about putting these procedures in place here.

Transparency

To ensure volunteers are given appropriate information to make an informed decision about whether they would feel comfortable volunteering for you, organisations are asked to state clearly in their organisation’s description any religious, political or campaigning commitments or affiliations.

Are you sure this is a volunteer role?

Having taken guidance from NCVO, Team London ask that you consider the following questions when composing your volunteer role description:

• Does this look like a job that someone should be paid to do?
• Look at the expectations and level of responsibility involved. Is this a reasonable expectation of a volunteer?
• Are you being clear that this is a voluntary role and that it is managed as such? The relationship between an organisation and a volunteer is different to the relationship with a member of staff ie. the volunteer can leave at any time and is under no obligation at all to achieve a certain number of hours or to achieve given targets. Managing a volunteer role like a staff role could result in inadvertently creating an employment contract. NCVO has more information on how to avoid this in their information sheet entitled 'Avoiding creating employment contracts' here.
• Are you being clear about expectations? The role description and/or the induction should identify what volunteers can expect from the organisation eg training and support for their role, they should also be clear on what your expectations are of them.

If you have any queries or would like to discuss any aspect of your volunteer roles, please contact us.

Equalities and diversity

The Greater London Authority's equalities and diversity policy relating to volunteering is covered in our document, Equal Life Chances for All 2012.

Team London has worked closely with NCVO and Greater London Volunteering to establish best practice on the recruitment of volunteer interns.

To the right of this page are two documents from NCVO, which explain the current thinking around voluntary internships and how organisations may unintentionally create a ‘contract of employment’ with a volunteer.

The term ‘intern’ has no legal definition in UK employment law, and is widely used as a marketing tool to attract a certain audience. Interns are often paid Minimum Working Wage.

For third sector organisations and charities, it is acceptable to offer an ‘unpaid internship’ as long as there is no profit being made by either the worker or organisation. However, in real terms there is no difference between recruiting a ‘volunteer’ or a ‘voluntary intern’ when looking for a volunteer to assist with a more structured project.

Team London ask that you consider the following questions when composing your volunteer role description:

• Does this look like a job that someone should be paid to do?
• Look at the number of hours, targets, expectations , level of responsibility - is this a reasonable expectation of a volunteer?
• Could you be unintentionally creating a contract of employment?
• Are you being clear that this is a voluntary role, and that the volunteer can leave at any time and is under no obligation at all to achieve given targets?
• Are you being transparent around training, benefits, reimbursement of expenses?

If you are satisfied that this is a role for a volunteer, Team London are happy to post the role.

If you have any queries or would like to discuss any aspect of your volunteer roles, please contact us.

1. Terms of Use

The Team London Website is a free of charge volunteering brokerage site that allows individuals to search opportunities posted on the Website by organisations that they consider match their criteria and skills. Organisations seeking volunteers will be able to register on the Website and post opportunities.

Any organisation offering volunteering opportunities within the Greater London area is eligible to apply to register on the Team London website, providing:

• It is able to provide fulfilling volunteering opportunities
• Its programmes benefit the community
• It does not require a financial contribution from individuals participating in volunteering activities (excludes corporate groups)

These Terms and Conditions may be changed at any time without notice, so please check them every now and then. If you continue to use the website we’ll assume you agree with the new terms.

You will not use the Website and/or the Service for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms and Conditions.

2. Site Administration

As part of the registration process for use of the Website, you will choose a user name and password, which is confidential and must not be disclosed to any third party.

By registering on the site, you agree to using it lawfully, and for its stated purpose only. The Team London administration team will approve all registrations and opportunities before they are published on the Website and go live. We reserve the right to reject any proposed publication of a volunteering opportunity or disable your account if you attempt to submit content that may be construed as being inappropriate, illegal or irrelevant to the Website.

3. Your Responsibilities

You agree that by using the Service and posting opportunities for volunteering on the Website that you shall be responsible for:

• managing all volunteer enquiries, within three days of receipt, and applications through the use of the Team London Dashboard;
• providing an adequate description for each of the volunteering opportunities that you post through the Service which shall include but not be limited to following information a named manager/supervisor, and any special requirements or skills;
• ensuring that volunteers do not replace paid staff. All roles should create or enhance an existing function in a way that would not happen without volunteers.
• the fair and transparent selection and recruitment of volunteers;
• any and all training that the volunteers will require to successfully participate in the opportunity;
• ensuring that there is appropriate insurance cover in place for the volunteers whilst undertaking the published opportunity;
• carrying out any appropriate security clearance checks, or other clearance that may be required by the volunteer to successfully participate in the published opportunity;
• ensuring your child safeguarding measures are compliant with current legislation and statutory guidance in relation to volunteering opportunities involving children and young people. If you do not have a child policy and protection procedures in place you may develop these using resources from the following online resources;
• maintaining appropriate safeguarding policies if working with vulnerable persons (click here to read guidance on safeguarding vulnerable people; and
• the welfare and safe working practices of the volunteer whilst the volunteer is undertaking the published opportunity.

You will be solely liable for the relationship arrangements between you and any volunteers that are created through the use of the Website and we accept no liability in this regard.

Organisations who do not comply with the above responsibilities will be removed from the Team London website immediately.

4. Data

All personal data received via the Website must be treated in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

We may carry out periodic volunteer surveys to assess the quality of opportunities that are being published through the Service. This data will be shared with you as appropriate.

We will use Google analytics to run various system reports on the use of the Website and/or the Service.

5. Termination

We have the right to terminate your access to the Service at any time, without notice, for any reason, including without limitation, breach of these Terms and Conditions.

We may also at any time, at our sole discretion, suspend, discontinue, withdraw the Website or any part thereof without prior notice and you agree that we shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to the Website.

6. Intellectual Property Rights

We are the owner or licensee of all intellectual property rights in the Website, including without limitation, the text, graphics, software and source code connected with or relating to the Website and the Service. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You must not use any part of the content on our Website for commercial purposes without first obtaining a licence from us or our licensors.

We do not claim ownership of any materials you post, upload, or submit to any publicly accessible area of the Service. However, by doing so you are granting us a worldwide, rroyalty-free non-exclusive licence to copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, publicly display, edit, translate or publish such content for as long as you elect to display such content via the Website.

7. Linking to the Website

If you wish to link to our home page (http://volunteerteam.london.gov.uk) you must request approval from us by emailing: [email protected] before doing so.

You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists, or establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.

8. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any breach by you of these Terms and Conditions and/or any claim or demand brought against us by any third party arising out of your use of the Website, the Service or any content submitted, posted, or transmitted through the Service, including without limitation, all claims, actions, proceedings, losses, loss of profits, goodwill, business, reputation, opportunities, data, liabilities, damages, costs, expenses, howsoever suffered or incurred by us in consequence of your breach of these Terms and Conditions.

9. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English Law.

Use of the Website is at your own risk. To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our site and any content on it, whether express or implied.

We will not be liable to any user for any loss or damage whether in contract, tort (including negligence, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with the use of, or inability to use our Website, or use of, or reliance on any content displayed on our Website.

To the extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever (including without limitation loss of profit, business, sales or revenues, opportunities, data, goodwill or reputation) arising out of or in connection with the use of the Website.

We make no warranty that the Website will meet your requirements, that the content will be accurate or reliable, that the functionality of the Website will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected or that the Website or the server that makes them available are free of viruses or anything else which may be harmful or destructive.

We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on our Website. Such links should not be interpreted as endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

10. Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and the courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute.