09/12/09

By Andrew Holt

Volunteering England, the volunteer development agency, is calling for evidence in January 2010, following the first meeting of the Volunteer Rights Inquiry Panel.

The Panel will consider the scope and scale of the issues that face volunteers as reports of serious incidents have threatened to undermine the goodwill and altruism that motivates volunteers.

Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs, chair of the Volunteer Rights Inquiry Panel, said: "The panel agreed that volunteering should be maintained as an activity distinct from paid employment. Volunteers do have certain rights and protection under current law.

"However, the over-riding concern was that volunteers did not demand equal employment rights but parity of esteem. This is as much about being treated with dignity, respect and fairness, as it is about proper management and good governance. "

On this basis, the Volunteer Rights Inquiry Panel will proceed with three key objectives:

1. Clarify the rights and protections that already exist for volunteers and dispel some of the employment myths that interfere with good management.

2. Getting it right first time: promote good practice in the management and governance of volunteering.

3. Making amends: explore different models of redress when things go wrong.

The Panel Members will gather evidence in several ways on all these points and identify both the successes and challenges of volunteering.

The Volunteer Rights Inquiry Panel are especially keen to hear people's thoughts on how volunteer involving organisations can prevent problems by treating volunteers well and what mechanisms could be put in place to provide an independent means of redress when, unfortunately, things do go wrong.

To find out a more about the Inquiry you can read the question and answer document and/or watch a short video about its work at.

http://www.volunteering.org.uk/WhatWeDo/Policy/Volunteer+Rights+Inquiry/Volunteer+Rights+Inquiry+qa.htm

http://www.youtube.com/volunteeringengland

Evidence gathering sessions will take place across the country on the following dates:

• 19 January (York)

• 27 January (London)

• 2 February (Birmingham)


You can also tell the Inquiry what you think by uploading a video to Volunteering England's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/VolunteeringEngland

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