Volunteer administration and support

If your group has volunteers and runs events, you'll need insurance in case anything happens. The RHS offers two types of insurance, Employers’ & Public Liability Insurance and Sheds, Equipment, Cups & Trophies Insurance (SECT). The first covers individuals who may run your group, attend events or take part in activities. The second covers property including sheds, cups, trophies, shields, audio visual equipment, show equipment, promotional materials, furniture, catering equipment, lawn mowers, garden equipment, stock for sale and items owned by the insured group itself or held in trust, but the group is responsible for them. This will include huts, sheds and composting toilets but not glasshouses, cloches, frames, polytunnels or property owned by individual members.
 
More information about both types of insurance and how to purchase can be found on our Community groups insurance page.

If you're considering establishing a charity, guidance can be found online to help you find the right structure and template governing documents for your organisation. In England you should register with the Charity Commission, in Scotland the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and in Northern Ireland the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.

If you're doing this you should think about the structure of your group and the type of 'legal form' it will have. If your group will employ staff, hold property or its members will be part of the organisation’s governance, this will tell you which type of 'legal form' will be most appropriate.  

It's important to make sure that all the activities and events you host are carried out safely, for example, if you're running an event to get others involved in your group or carrying out gardening activities in your local community. To help identify risks and how they can be reduced, carry out a risk assessment. This document provides you with guidance, for the kind of approach you might take, and a suggested template to use. Further information about risk assessments can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.

The UK Data Protection Act 2018 maps out how everyone should collect, store and work with personal data. Our GDPR guidance for Community groups (183kB), includes information and support about data protection, and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website contains a wealth of information.
 
You might want to set up a new email address for your group so that you can use it on leaflets or adverts, enabling volunteers to contact you. Managing the incoming emails can then be a shared role but because of data protection, you'll need to make sure that only those who should have access to the account can use it and the password is changed regularly.

The steps will vary, depending on who you're working with and how you do that work (e.g. whether anyone will need to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service check, formally CRB, in England or the equivalent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland). You should consider making sure that those you work with know about the risks and how to keep people safe; ensuring that people are suitable to do the work, supervised appropriately, provided with the right training, know how to spot concerns and when to refer or report them.

The Charity Commission website has useful guidance for everyone, including those who aren't charities as does the organisation SAFE CIC. In Scotland you can also contact Volunteer Scotland and in Northern Ireland Volunteer Now.

Anyone of any age can volunteer but you must make sure that those under 18 have the appropriate supervision of someone who has completed a Disclosure and Barring Service check (formerly CRB) in England, Protecting Vulnerable Groups in Scotland or Access NI in Northern Ireland. You should also check your insurance covers the ages of the people volunteering in your group. More information about this can be found on the Government website.
 
Refugees, those claiming benefits and asylum seekers are also able to volunteer, this NCVO page contains more information about these regulations. In Northern Ireland guidance is also available on the Volunteer Now website.    

Problems can arise when you're working with and involving volunteers. If a complaint is made, it should be dealt with as soon as possible and you should make sure it's handled with sensitivity and fairly. In certain circumstances, it may also be appropriate to ask a volunteer to leave your group.

It's a good idea to set up a community bank account with more than one person as a signatory, in case you need to buy things for your group, rather than using a personal account. This will give you extra control, and when you get funding or grants; you'll have an organisational account to pay the money into.  
 
Volunteers can only be paid out-of-pocket expenses, which should be supported by receipts. You might want to have a simple expenses form for volunteers to use to claim expenses, perhaps, if they've bought food for an event. You need to keep a record of what's paid in and out with receipts plus any money you've raised through fundraising.