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News
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Waterside’s 2nd Birthday!
Today, we are celebrating the second anniversary of Waterside Centre reopening.
3 August 2023
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Duck Race
Our friends at the Rotary Club of Reading Abbey have asked us to share news of the charity fundraising event they’re running at The Oracle on Saturday 9 September.
31 July 2023
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Tilehurst Youth Club
Thank you to youth worker Jessica for this update!
31 July 2023
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Waterside – July 2023
Kelly told us: “The summer months bring a range of activity to Waterside Centre.
31 July 2023
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The Wayz – July 2023
A real summer of fun at The Ways; the month started brilliantly with the Community Fun Day and Bracknell Together Walk.
31 July 2023
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Britwell – July 2023
Britwell Youth and Community Project’s Summer Holiday Club is running from Monday 24 July– Friday 18 August (daily Monday – Friday), 11am – 3pm.
31 July 2023
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Updates from our Flagship Youth Clubs
Please click on the links below for the latest updates from our flagship youth clubs in Slough, Bracknell and Newbury.
31 July 2023
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Youth Development and Community Engagement Update
The school holidays are now upon us and our summer programmes are in full swing.
31 July 2023
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Training News
Here are our upcoming training courses, including posters.
31 July 2023
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Staff Spotlight
In the last update, we caught up with Abbas, who was celebrating his first year of working at Berkshire Youth.
31 July 2023
How To Manage Your Charity Volunteers
30 January 2023
Our Finance Manager, Debbie Dye, shares some useful tips and information from the Charity Commission website.
How to recruit and manage volunteers for your charity, including the vetting process, paying expenses, role descriptions and insurance
How to Find Volunteers
You can get volunteers from a number of different sources, such as:
- Word of mouth
- Personal recommendation
- Advertising in national or local press
- Websites where you can advertise volunteer roles include: Volunteering England, Reach and TimeBank.
KnowHowNonProfit has guides on where to find volunteers and the volunteer recruitment process.
Criminal Records Checks
If your volunteers will be working with children or vulnerable adults, by law you can get a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS, formerly the Criminal Records Bureau) on them.
The DBS will search police records to identify people who are unsuitable for certain types of work, especially work involving children and vulnerable adults.
DBS checks are free for volunteers. Depending on the Organisation you go through to process your DBS checks there may be an administration fee
Legal Status of Volunteers
Your charity could get into legal problems if you don’t clearly distinguish between its paid staff and volunteers. It’s possible for volunteers to claim they have the same rights as employees, including claiming unfair dismissal for example.
A written role description for your volunteers can help make it clear what the boundaries and expectations are. It’s important that the role description could not be confused with an employment contract or job description. For example it must not require volunteers to work particular hours.
Expenses for Volunteers
Volunteers aren’t paid for their time, but should be paid for any out-of-pocket expenses. These expenses could include:
- Travel
- Postage and telephone costs if working from home
- Essential equipment, such as protective clothing
Volunteers should provide receipts for any expenses they incur.
If a volunteer receives any type of reward or payment other than expenses, they may see this as a salary and they could be classed as an employee or worker. This then gives them some employment rights.
Insurance to Cover Volunteers
Make sure your charity’s insurance covers your volunteers. Even if your charity doesn’t employ staff, you may still decide to take out employers’ liability cover for volunteers.
Check whether your insurance policy:
- Includes volunteers
- Covers the activities volunteers will be doing
- States any age limits for volunteers