The worshipping community of St
Andrew & St George are a church family.
As members of the church, we volunteer our times and talents to further
our mission, to make Christ known. Our volunteer roles are varied but all are
valued by the church family.
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in
our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his
exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the who lead, with zeal;
the one who acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12
v6-8
As a church we will care for
our volunteers:
•
Matching your skills, gifts and experiences with the
right role for you wherever possible
•
Offering appropriate training and support for your
role, accessing appropriate diocesan support
•
Celebrating success and recognising loyalty and
dedication
•
Respecting all our volunteers and listening to what you
have to say, consistently encouraging two-way communication
•
Providing information about the church’s work, policies
and procedures
•
Reimbursing agreed out of pocket expenses promptly
•
Ensuring your health, safety and welfare as a volunteer
•
Providing a positive and friendly atmosphere
•
Providing access to trained members, to support, guide
and advise you
As a volunteer we expect you
to:
•
Aim for high standards of efficiency, reliability and
quality in your volunteering
•
Work in partnership with other volunteers, staff and
general public
•
Support, respect and adhere to our organisational
policies, guidelines and management decisions – including all aspects of equal
opportunities, health and safety, data protection and use of our name
•
Consider and protect the Church’s good reputation in
your actions and conduct
•
Act responsibly, within the law
•
Let the Rector know if you have any problems, so that
we can find a solution together
•
Let the Rector know if there are changes in
circumstances that may affect your volunteering.
•
Have the best possible experience by getting involved
and enjoying your volunteering
General Guidance
The PCC will follow the
Diocesan Safer Recruitment Guidelines.
All volunteers will have an
informal induction and receive training from their Rector/ activity leader. The activity leader will be your key contact
when volunteering. The activity leader maybe
themselves be a volunteer and we expect that you will work together in a
two-way respectful way. If a volunteer
has an issue with their activity leader at any time, this should be discussed
with the Rector.
We are committed to ensuring
your wellbeing and safety whilst you are volunteering, and, in turn we expect
our volunteers to contribute to maintaining a safe working environment, and in
particular to:
·
Take reasonable
care for the health and safety of yourself and other persons who may be
affected by your actions or omissions.
·
Co-operate with
staff by assisting them to fulfil their statutory duties
·
Follow the health
and safety policy, procedures and measures put in place by the PCC.
·
Report
accidents/incidents or dangerous circumstances promptly to the Rector or a
Churchwarden, whether or not any person has been injured
·
Be aware of
actions to take when an emergency situation arises and who, from the PCC, to
contact for support.
The PCC has appropriate types of insurance
in place to cover its volunteers. These
include employer’s liability insurance and public liability insurance in the
event of a volunteer being harmed due to the negligence of the charity, or a
third party being injured as a result of the actions of a volunteer whilst
performing church duties. However, our
insurance does not cover your personal belongings.
The PCC does not provide motor insurance for you as a
volunteer. Driving in connection with
charitable volunteering is normally classified by insurers as “social, domestic
and pleasure” which is part of your standard cover. We recommend that you check with your insurer
but there should not be any additional cost.
If we have agreed to reimburse your expenses for travelling in your own
vehicle, we use government standard mileage rate, which included an allowance
for insurance as well as well as fuel, maintenance, tax, etc.
In most cases you will need to be over 16 years of age
to volunteer independently and under 18s may be asked for parental
consent. Younger people may get involved
in some aspects of volunteering with us if they are accompanied by a
responsible adult. We do not have an
upper age limit for volunteers but there may be situations that require us to
ask someone to stop volunteering – for example when health issues are
considered a risk to the person concerned or others around them.
If you are volunteering to work with children or
vulnerable adults, you will be required to complete a DBS check and online
safeguarding training.
If you have any problems concerning your volunteering,
please talk to your activity leader immediately. The church takes the concerns of its
volunteers very seriously and will make every effort to resolve any
difficulties. If the concern is not resolved, you should contact the Rector in
line with our complaints policy.
No comments or stories should be given directly to the
media, unless your volunteer role specifically includes talking to the press or
other local media. Generally, our media
relations are handled by trained specialists at the Diocese and so any requests
from the media should be referred to the Rector.
We take great care to protect your information as part
of our data protection responsibilities.
As a volunteer, we expect you to protect any personal or confidential
information to which you may have access.
In turn, to protect others, we expect you not to share pictures of your
church activities on social media; you may send pictures to the Rector who will
post on the church’s social media account where appropriate.
The rights to any original works that you may produce in
the course of volunteering will belong to the PCC, unless otherwise agreed in
writing and approved by the PCC.
Examples include photography, artwork, graphic design and written work,
including the results of research. We
may use photographs of volunteers carrying out their roles for promotional
purposes, such as in a leaflet or online.
You may, of course, request that an image is not used.
The PCC reserves the right to withdraw permission for a
volunteer to participate if it is causing concern or undermining the reputation
of the church.
Agreed by the PCC 17th
July 2023