► Volunteering Policies

Equal Opportunities

The Students' Union is an equal opportunities organisation and we ask all organisations who wish to accommodate student volunteers to operate a full Equal Opportunities Policy. This is to ensure our volunteers will not be discriminated against on the basis of their race, gender, social class, creed, age, sexual orientation, or disability. The only exceptions are projects that are legally exempt under section 7(2)e of the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) or section 5(1)a of the Race Relations Act (1976).

References and Police Checks

The Students' Union volunteering shop follows up two references for each volunteer. If a student wishes to volunteer with you we will send you copies of these. The volunteering shop asks all volunteers who wish to work on our projects dealing with vulnerable members of our society to take up a Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check. If your organisation works with vulnerable service we ask that you also ask the volunteer to obtain a CRB check.

Health and Safety

The Health and Safety of our students and members of the local community we work with is paramount. We have to ensure that any voluntary work undertaken does not place our students in vulnerable or compromising situations and require all environments they work in to comply with the Health & Safety at work Act (1974). We ask all organisations with five or more members of staff inclusive of volunteers to have an up-to-date Health and Safety Policy.

All community groups staffed entirely by volunteers have a common law duty of care for those volunteers and are encouraged to produce written safe working practices. Please highlight your Health and Safety legislation, responsibilities and requirements to the volunteers.

Risk assessments are vital within Health and Safety and should be carried out by a competent person. Appropriate measures should then be taken to ensure safe working around the highlighted issues.

Insurance

All volunteers must be fully covered by your organisations Employer's & Public Liability insurance. If volunteers are using their own vehicles please ensure they have appropriate cover if an accident should occur.

Taster Session

Before a student commits to volunteering with your organisation we ask you to provide a non-obligatory taster session for them to get a feel of your organisation. This helps reduce drop out figures and helps ensure they are placed appropriately. The Students' Union Volunteering Shop or the student will inform you if they chose not to take up the role.

Induction

An induction is essential to highlight the volunteers' role within your organisation and what you will expect of them. Students are usually very nervous when they first embark in voluntary work and an induction will help eradicate any concerns.

Support

To ensure a volunteer stays motivated and becomes confident within their role, supervision and training are essential. Please highlight to the volunteer who they are accountable to and ensure the volunteer has regular access to that individual for support.

Students volunteer for a number of reasons, however one of the main reasons is to develop their skills and gain experience. Training aids this process and in turn will produce knowledgeable and more professional volunteers.

The Volunteering Shop will contact the volunteer at different stages to check how they are getting on.

Students face many constraints when trying to volunteer: their studies, vacations when they go home, social lives and of course part time-work. Due to this there will be times when students are unable to volunteer. We hope you understand these problems and apologise if our students do not attend regularly. We ask our volunteers to keep you informed of when they are not available however recommend these issues are discussed before they start volunteering.