Subject: Is it possible to pay volunteers?
I am a trustee of a charity that uses disabled volunteers in a commercial enterprise. The purpose is to give them work experience that will help them into full time work. We would like to pay some who have been with us over a year, albeit a nominal amount, but are fearful that even an ex-gratia payment would make them employees entitled to minimum wage. If we had to pay that then the business would be uneconomic and we would have to close it. Any ideas how we might resolve this?
Hi Brian.
First, please don't say you 'use' volunteers. Volunteers are people and we do not use them. We use photocopiers and paper clips. See http://bit.ly/vObKbI.
Second, the following links to information from Business Link may be useful re National Minimum Wage and volunteers - http://bit.ly/yPmrYB and http://bit.ly/wlt6cL.
Third, remember that you will only have problems with employment law and minimum wage if your volunteers bring a claim for these rights. That usually happens when volunteers feel aggrieved. So, whilst you should take steps to minimise your risk exposure, make sure you treat your volunteers well and the risk will be low anyway.
I hope that helps.
Rob
Hi bRian, we had a couple more replies to your question via twitter. Here they are:
@steveblyton said: "Expenses yes, as long as real. Regular honorarium for just turning up No"
@patteamfareham said: "yes it is..we get vouchers for services...not much..but management insisted. £5per meeting, £10 over 3 hours and £15 full day consulting on policy's etc."
@ivolunteeruk said: "only for general expenses plus goodies for reward where appropriate :0)"
There's quite a bit of guidance on volunteers on the HRBird website. One of the clearest explanations of volunteer expenses and National Minimum Wage is in Volunteering England's "Volunteers and the Law". Although it's a fairly old publication now, the guidance is still very good. In essence, if you're reimbursing volunteers, these should be for expenses incurred and evidenced by receipts. Anything that is above and beyond that will be taking you into greyer territory, so is strongly discouraged. Hope that helps!
