We don’t expect any charity sets out with the intention of failing to pay the national minimum wage. However, in our experience many charities do not have sufficiently clear parameters around the way they engage with volunteers and, in some cases, unwittingly create a contractual arrangement with “volunteers” that would make them workers for the purpose of the National Minimum Wage Regulations.
The legal status of an individual, on whether they are truly a volunteer, is not always clear cut and there is no single test to establish whether an individual is a volunteer. However, the following factors will be key in determining whether someone can properly be regarded as a volunteer:
In order for any legally-binding contract to exist, there must be some form of benefit passing from one party to the other. This could be a financial benefit or could even include training, where the training is not wholly for the purpose of the persons work as a volunteer.
An obligation on an individual to perform work that is given to them is an essential requirement of any contract.
If you and the volunteer have no intention to create a legally-binding relationship, a contract cannot exist.
We consider that charities routinely engaging volunteers ought to have a volunteer arrangement (a document that sets out the arrangements between the charity and the volunteer as opposed to an agreement) in place, which helps to define the nature of the engagement between the volunteer and the Charity. A written arrangement will help to identify and separate the rules from those that apply to employees within the charity.
Our clients are increasingly reporting that HRMC visits reviewing minimum wage compliance are considering their arrangements with so-called volunteers and, where there are regular payments going to individuals that appear to be more than expenses based on retained receipts, seeking to challenge the conclusion that they are purely volunteers who are not caught by the National Minimum Wage Legislation.
We therefore consider that if you have volunteers who are regularly paid or provided with benefits you review your arrangements to ensure that you can properly justify the approach.
If you have concerns about your arrangements with volunteers, please contact Matthew Wort.
The Government has confirmed that the eviction ban/possession stay will definitely end on the 23 August 2020.
AGM season will soon be upon us. One of the many challenges social distancing measures has presented is how to hold AGMs and other General Meetings.
The MHCLG has published its review into the risks of fraud and corruption in local government procurement.
On 24 April 2020, the Fire Brigade Union, supported by the prison staff union (POA), public services union PCS and the GMB, filed court proceedings against the Government.
Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 05/20 announced the Government’s update of its “Outsourcing Playbook”.
Last week saw a significant easing of social distancing measures in England from 4 July”.
The way we observe these important rituals has been turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Impact of the Supreme Court’s judgment in Bresco Services Limited v Michael J Lonsdale [2020].
Yesterday, (23 June) the Prime Minister announced significant changes to lockdown measures for organisations and individuals in England.
Whilst many of us are welcoming the recent changes to lockdown, many charities are finding the easing of lockdown more difficult to manage than going into it!
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.