Dealing with issues

If a volunteer complains to you about any safeguarding issues, you should follow your club’s safeguarding procedure. You can find more information on this on the Club Matters website.

If a volunteer complains to you or reports any other unlawful activities, you should seek legal advice.

If the complaint involves other issues regarding the volunteer’s treatment, you’ll then need to establish whether it’s reasonable. If a volunteer has been left unsupervised and unsupported, has not been offered breaks or has been given a task they’re unable to perform and no help to perform it, then their complaint is likely to be reasonable.

Referencing volunteer agreements

Having a volunteer agreement in place is useful when dealing with complaints, as it’ll state not only how volunteers will ideally behave, but also how they ought to be treated. If the complaint shows that your organisation has not met the standard it's set itself, then the complaint is valid.

If the complaint is valid, the volunteer should be offered an apology and you should look at ways to prevent the situation happening again. It’s considered good practice that volunteer complaints are handled sensitively and through an agreed procedure.

However, volunteers don’t have the same rights or responsibilities as employees, and as a club you don’t have the same responsibilities to them that an employer has to its employees.

If a complaint is not deemed to be reasonable, then you could discuss this with the volunteer, referencing the volunteer agreement if you have one. If you feel you’re meeting the standards you have set yourself as an organisation under the terms of this agreement, then you may state this. It’s better to do this than ignore the complaint, as a volunteer who feels they have been ignored is highly likely to leave.

For more information on implementing volunteer agreements, please click here and refer to question seven. 

Complaints procedure

It’s helpful to have a complaints procedure that covers complaints by and about volunteers which you can refer to in these situations. This should be separate to any procedure you have for paid employees. For a guide on dealing with challenging volunteer situations, we recommend referencing Volunteer Scotland’s good practice guide. 

• The volunteer is moving away from the area
• The volunteer has new commitments (job, family, study etc.) and the amount of free time they have is set to reduce
• The volunteer is not enjoying their role
• The volunteer is looking for training or experience that your volunteer opportunity isn’t providing.

If a volunteer has new commitments and has less time to give, then you could discuss ways in which they could continue but reduce the amount of time they give as a volunteer. This won’t be possible in every role, but some roles can be divided up between more volunteers, if you’re able to recruit extra help. Or there may be a different role that would interest them which involves giving less time.

It may be that a volunteer will still say no if presented with these options, but it’s worth putting some thought into them and discussing them with your volunteer.

If a volunteer is not enjoying their role, this could be down to the role itself or the conditions in which they’re carrying it out. Again, it’s important to talk this through with them in order to understand why.

If it’s about the role itself then there could be other roles they’re better suited to. It might be good to sit down and talk through what their existing skills are and what skills they’re looking to develop through their volunteering. Click here for more information on the type of training you could offer volunteers.   

If it’s about the conditions, then it might be there are ways you can support your volunteer better in their role. If someone loves event marshalling but is fed up of doing five-hour stints without a single chance to sit down, then this could be remedied by something as simple as a rota for breaks.

It might be that your volunteer is looking for training or development opportunities in their role. If that’s the case, then it’s important to understand what they’re looking for so you can assess whether you can provide this.

When a volunteer leaves, it’s a good idea to get feedback on their experience with you to help you improve your volunteer management. You could interview them, or perhaps ask them to give you comments on a feedback form.

If someone has complained to you about any suspected criminal activity, it should be taken seriously and reported to the police.

If a volunteer complains to you about any safeguarding issues, you should follow your club’s safeguarding procedure. You can find more information on this on Club Matters.

If someone reports any other unlawful activities, you should seek legal advice.

If the complaint involves other issues regarding the volunteer’s behaviour or performance, you’ll then need to establish whether the complaint is reasonable. Sometimes it may be more a clash of personalities than the behaviour of one individual which has led to a complaint. If this is the case, you should try and resolve it with the individual that has complained. It may be as simple as assigning different tasks at different times.

It may be that the complaint is reasonable, but the volunteer has not been given information or guidance they need to understand their role and how they should behave in it.

Referencing volunteer agreements

Having volunteer agreements in place is useful when dealing with complaints, as they'll state not only how volunteers will ideally behave but also how they ought to be treated by your organisation. You should consider if you've made your expectations about conduct or performance clear to the volunteer.

If it’s your organisation that needs to better communicate expectations, you should explain that you’re aware the volunteer has been unable to perform the task as well as expected, and that you aim to provide better support that will change this. You should then put these in place.

If the volunteer’s behaviour is at fault in spite of the fact you've made expectations clear to them, then you should explain this to the volunteer, referring to the volunteer agreement if they signed one.

Complaints procedure

It’s helpful to have a complaints procedure that covers complaints by and about volunteers which you can refer to in these situations. This should be separate to any procedure you have for paid employees. For a guide on dealing with challenging volunteer situations, we recommend referencing Volunteer Scotland’s good practice guide.

You can’t fire a volunteer in the same way you can an employee as they haven’t signed a contract, therefore they can’t be in breach of its terms. However, you can inform a volunteer that there’s no longer a volunteering opportunity for them at your organisation.

Asking a volunteer to leave should be a last resort. However, if you’re considering asking them to leave simply because the role they perform is no longer needed, then you should think about other ways that they could help and offer them alternative roles.

If there’s an issue of performance or conduct, you should think about whether this could be addressed and the volunteer given the chance to improve. It may be as simple as expectations not being clearly communicated. If it’s an issue of capability, then there may be ways you can support your volunteer to improve their skills.

For a guide on dealing with challenging volunteer situations, we recommend referencing Volunteer Scotland’s good practice guide.  

Is it an informal complaint?

If you’ve heard that someone is complaining about you or someone has told you personally that they don’t like the way you work, it may be best to try and talk to that person to see if you can come up with a solution yourselves. Try to communicate clearly and be honest about how you feel. It might be a good idea to take someone impartial with you for this conversation.

Is it a formal complaint?

Your club should have a policy on what to do when someone wants to make an official complaint. Guidance about this should have been given to you during your induction. If someone has made a complaint about you, first check your club’s policy on complaints to see what next steps you can take. Then talk to someone in the club, such as your volunteer manager, and ask what you should do. They’ll be able to help and tell you what your options are.

Does the complaint have to do with discrimination?

If you think you've been discriminated against, please refer to question six.  

1. Talk to the person/persons who you think have discriminated against you
2. Complain to your club
3. Take further action.

It’s always best to try and sort it out with the person directly. If this doesn’t work out, then the following might be options:

Complain to your club

Check if your club has any procedures in place to handle complaints or a policy on discrimination. This information may have been provided to you in your induction. This should tell you who to contact, how to complain and what will happen next.

If your club does not have such a procedure or you don’t know about it, ask someone else in the club (for example your volunteer manager) how to make a complaint.

Take further action

If you’re not able to resolve things directly with your club, you may wish to consider taking further action, including seeking legal advice. Another option is to contact Alternative Dispute Resolution, which may try to sort out a solution without having to go to court. 

Volunteers aren’t protected from discrimination under the employment provisions of the Equality Act 2010. However, you might be able to claim that by offering opportunities for volunteering, the club is providing a service, and consequently you’re protected from discrimination.

For more information from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations about discrimination in the provision of services, click here.