The NCVO has updated its guidance for charities around the recruitment and management of volunteers under local restrictions in England that came into force this month.

On December 2, an England wide Covid-19 lockdown was replaced with tiered local restrictions.

Tier one is the least restrictive, and currently applies to Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. Meanwhile, tier three is the most restrictive and applies to areas in the Midlands and North West among others.

To help charities to engage and support their volunteers under the new restrictions the NCVO’s free to view Knowhow page on Involving Volunteers has been updated.

“Under the local tiered restrictions, in all tiers people can volunteer outside their home and meet in groups of any size – indoors and outdoors whilst volunteering,” it states.

However, in all tiers charities are encouraged to ask volunteers to volunteer from home if they can. Volunteering outside of their home is permitted in all tiers if they cannot volunteer from home or do not need to self isolate.

But in tier 3 areas “if your workplace has been told to close, you will be unable to volunteer there”.

The guidance also references latest social distancing guidelines in all areas, including washing hands and wearing a face covering indoors.

“As part of your duty of care to your volunteers, volunteer involving organisations should undertake a covid-19 risk assessment about the volunteer activities and share the results with the people who are volunteering with them,” the guidance adds.

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