Volunteers
VOLUNTEERS AND TYPES OF LIABILITY
There are various publications on the Volunteering England web site, which provide guidance on this difficult subject of
liability and volunteers. Guidance may be copied for personal use and information sharing, provided that the source is clearly acknowledged as being the 'Volunteering England web site
(www.volunteering.org.uk)'
Volunteering England sees legal liability falling in three areas:
Negligence, when one person has a duty of care towards another and does not take reasonable care, with the result that other person suffers injury, loss or damage as a result. The Trustees of Rye Art Gallery take their responsibilities for duty of care seriously.
Vicarious liability is the Rye Art Gallery Trust's (as an employer) indirect legal responsibility for negligent acts of its employees. In these cases Rye Art Gallery may be found liable for the actions or inactions of its agents or subordinates even when it has neither authorised nor ratified them. In the UK, the employer has generally been held to be vicariously liable only for the negligent acts of employees. However, there could also be vicarious liability for the acts of volunteers if the individual was held by the court to be legally an employee, or if the court felt that the relationship between the organisation and the volunteer was sufficient to justify a liability being imposed. Even if the organisation is not vicariously liable, it might be possible for a claim to be brought against the organisation for its own liability in, for example, not properly training or supervising the volunteer.
The legal status of volunteers in the UK has raised particular concerns because it remains unclear and has a host of ramifications for volunteers’ rights and organisations’ responsibilities and liability. Volunteering England and other leading voluntary bodies warn that organisations should be careful that the volunteers do not become employees in the eyes of the law and should not create arrangements that could be construed as a contract, including making payments to volunteers unless these are genuine reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses. A ‘contract’ can exist even if there is no written agreement between the volunteer and the organisation. The Rye Art Gallery Trust is aware of this guidance and complies with it.
VOLUNTEERS INSURANCE COVER
Rye Art Gallery relies on volunteers - normally Friends of Rye Art Gallery members - to help mount and supervise exhibitions; to support events and raise funds. Rye Art Gallery takes seriously its responsibilities for Volunteers. It has insurance cover in place for any event involving an accident or emergency. Rye Art Gallery has Liability insurance (as an employer)and public liability insurance in the event of volunteers being harmed due to the organisation’s negligence. Public liability insurance covers both the organisation and the volunteer in the event of a third party being injured through the actions of a volunteer.
Good Practice
Rye Art Gallery has adopted as good practice the following pointers - recommended by Volunteer England - to ensure that we have the appropriate insurance in place to cover your volunteers:
• have ensured that your policies explicitly mention volunteers because they may not be automatically included in your insurance cover
• have checked with your insurer if there are upper and lower age limits for volunteers before recruiting younger or older volunteers
• has made sure that your insurance company is aware of the types of activities that the volunteers will be doing, because if the tasks are high-risk then the insurance policies will need to be adapted to accommodate these risks
• included in the risk assessment a description of each of the roles that volunteers perform, to help the insurer tailor its cover accordingly.
EXTRACT FROM THE RAG POLICY IS BELOW
Section 6 - Public & Products Liability provides cover up to £2,000,000 in respect of bodily injury occurring to any member of the public, which the gallery would be legally liable for.
Section 5 - Employers Liability provides cover up to £10,000,000 in respect of bodily injury sustained to any employee in the course of employment by the gallery in respect of the business, which the gallery would be legally liable for. An employee includes any person under contract of service with the gallery whether this is paid or unpaid and would therefore include volunteers.
Section 7 - Personal Accident is not covered, BUT, under Section 3 - Money & Assault bodily injury is covered up to £10,000 in respect of any director, partner or employee who is assaulted in the course of their duties in the business (i.e a robbery).
Corporate Risks
Windsor Partners LLP
Direct Dial: 01924 331214
Fax: 01924 383118
International House,Trinity Business Park,Wakefield,WF2 8EF www.windsor.co.uk
Chair RAG Trust
November 2010