Volunteers are not necessarily included in the Equality Act 2010, as it applies to employers and contracted workers. However, as volunteers act on behalf of your organisation and to show your commitment to removing discrimination or prejudice against volunteers, which could happen because of their role, it’s recommended you pay attention to and include volunteers in your equality, diversity and inclusion policies.
Some actionable steps you can take to ensure volunteers are kept safe from equality issues are:
- Make volunteers aware of equality issues and how they can mitigate discrimination against others, such as beneficiaries
- Include volunteers in your equality policies
- Consult with volunteers about potential problems and policy changes
- Set the bounds of roles and responsibilities
- Ensure adequate training
- Have supervisors, safeguarding leads or contacts that volunteers can access- Monitor and communicate arising concerns
- Define procedures for making complaints or concerns