As a volunteer manager you should take a safeguarding approach to all aspects of volunteering. This will help your organisation keep people safe from harm and create a culture where everyone connected understands their right to be safe.
The more care you take in managing your volunteers, the more your work with them can play a key role in building a safer culture in your organisation. This will help you to build a safer space where people feel able to speak up about concerns and trust that action will be taken.
You need to build a clear message that safeguarding is a way of working every day, making sure your staff and volunteers understand why it is important to keep everyone safe.
The way you deliver safeguarding will change depending on who you work with and the level of risk involved, but all organisations must take safeguarding seriously. The larger your organisation or the more you engage with those with particular risk of harm, the more comprehensive your approach to safeguarding should be.
You need to consider harm that could be caused:
You also need to consider the potential that volunteers may have unmet needs for care and support which if unresolved could place them at risk of harm or affect their wellbeing. They may also be experiencing harm outside of your organisation but share this to you within your contact.
Your organisation needs to have the right safeguarding policy in place when working with volunteers. As a volunteer manager you should check that your safeguarding policy and procedures:
You also need to make sure that your safeguarding policies and procedures:
If your organisation needs to write a safeguarding policy or carry out a full review so it’s inclusive of volunteers, you may need detailed guidance.
You need to make the place of volunteers in your organisation clear throughout its strategies, policies and procedures. One way to do this is to have a volunteer strategy, another is to make sure your approach to volunteers is embedded into other organisational plans.
However you achieve this, your plans should cover safeguarding from a range of angles.
You should:
For more information on finding the right insurance see the insurance section of our guide for director of operations.
Your safeguarding policy and procedures sit alongside other policies which are equally important to making sure you run a safer organisation.
As a volunteer manager, you need to make sure that:
For details on essential safeguarding policies and procedures and suggestions of where to find more information on other policies, see our policies and procedures page in steps to a safer organisation.
When you’re working in partnership with other organisations, you must make sure you set out a clear understanding of how you’ll work on safeguarding together.
Read our guide to working with partners for more information.
Last reviewed: 06 December 2018
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