Volunteer Placements Guide for Students
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Volunteer Guide
Welcome3
Volunteer Expectations4
Top tips to get started5
Volunteer commitment5
Awards, certificates and references6
Health and Safety7
Confidentiality 8
Equal opportunities 8
Grievance and complaints 8
Data protection 9
Expenses 9
Welcome
The University of West London Volunteering gives students the chance to get involved in volunteer opportunities through local charitable organisations. We are committed to ensuring students involved have a positive volunteering experience and therefore underlying all the activities students can take part in are a set of policies and procedures which hopefully give you a sense of what we expect of you, but also what you can expect from us.
Contact
If you have any questions about volunteering please contact the volunteering team
Who can volunteer?
Any student and graduate can volunteer through the University of West London up to three years after graduation. If you are an international student there are restrictions for those whose passport sticker or identity card says “No work” or “Work prohibited”. This tends to be a very limited amount of people. If you are unsure whether you can volunteer please speak to please speak to an advisor at the University of West London One Stop Shop
If you are under the age of 16 you will need the consent of a parent or guardian to volunteer.
How do I get a volunteer placement?
To apply for any of the volunteer placements or to receive the weekly newsletter you must register as a volunteer. Visit here to register your interest in volunteering via the Student Career Lounge. You will receive updates via your email of when new volunteer opportunities are available. Opportunities will also be available to view online.
Tick Tock
Please be aware that not all placements happen instantly, if for example you want to work with children or vulnerable adults, organisations often wish to process a Criminal Records Check on you to assess your suitability, this could take anything from 4 – 8 weeks or longer. (Please see the Health and Safety information for more detail). You are advised to plan in advance as much as possible to avoid disappointment.
What if the placement I want to do is not advertised?
If there is a certain area you wish to work in and we do not have a placement advertised please email indicating what type of placement you are looking for. We will endeavor to help you secure a volunteering placement that suits you.
Volunteer Expectations
Understandably, as a volunteer, there are going to be certain things that you will be expecting and it is important that you let us know if things aren’t going as well as you’d expected them to. In turn, we also have high expectations of our volunteers. Please ✓to confirm you have read and understood the expectations
What we expect of YOUTo inform us when you have secured a volunteer placement with an organisation
To check through the volunteering top tips below to ensure you are prepared for your role
To inform us if you have now or in the future any health issues that could affect your volunteering ( this includes pregnancy)
To be reliable and committed to your project
To respect other people, their values and beliefs and to respect confidentiality
To report any concerns you have over the health and safety of any children or vulnerable adults
To tell someone immediately if you are having any problems /complaint with your volunteering
To balance your volunteering and your studies so you don’t over-commit to your volunteering
To feedback on your experience, let us know how we can improve our work
What YOU can expect
To be provided with a volunteer role description, to know exactly what is asked and expected of you
To learn and develop new skills
To have on-going support from the University of West London Volunteer Coordinator
To be eligible for volunteer awards through University of West London Volunteering
To receive a certificate of volunteering through University of West London
To be eligible for a reference (at the discretion of the host organisation)
To receive on-going training (at the discretion of the host organisation)
To receive out of pocket expenses from your host organisation (at the discretion of the host organisation)
To have a named member of staff from the host organisation who supports you
To be safe whilst volunteering
To be respected and treated in the context of welcoming diversity
To gain from and enjoy the experience be valued, appreciated and recognised
To be free to leave the opportunity at any time. (Please provide sufficient notice where possible)
Top tips to get started
The following is a list of suggested questions for you to find out some details on your volunteeringrole. This can be used as a worksheet to ensure you are prepared for your role, please tick when you have found out the answers.
What to find out before commencing volunteeringWhat will my role be? Please can I have a copy of the role description?
What are the organisations aims and objectives?
What length of commitment is required?
When am I required, i.e. day / time each week?
What is expected of me?
Will I get support/ training to carry out this role, if so what?
Will I receive out of pocket expenses i.e. travel to and from the placement?
What health and safety issues affect this work?
What do I want to achieve through the volunteering? Will this role achieve this?
Areas that should be covered in induction or when commencing volunteering
Who do I report to if I have any problems?
What activities can I get involved in?
What are the Child Protection Policies (if you are working with children/vulnerable adults)?
What relevant policies/procedures do I need to be aware of? i.e. confidentiality, complaints etc.
What is the accident reporting procedure?
What is the procedure for reporting absence planned or otherwise?
What is covered on the risk assessments? (you should be given a copy of the risk assessment)
Where are the Fire Exits?
Who is the First Aider?
Who are the other volunteers and staff?
Are there any office rules I should be aware of?
Volunteer Commitment
As you can fully appreciate, volunteering is beneficial not only for yourself but for the clients or beneficiaries you work with.
Therefore it is imperative that once you make a commitment you abide by it. If you consistently fail to attend your placement or project, many people will be disappointed. If you are unable to attend please give your host organisation as much notice as possible.
Please think very carefully about the level of responsibility you are willing to take on. However, please remember that no matter how involved you become, you are a student first and a volunteer second. Volunteering is a brilliant way to spend your free time but is not worth jeopardising your degree for. Do as little or as much as you can. Every moment spent will be appreciated and is guaranteed to make a difference.
You should ask your host organisation what the procedure is for reporting past and future, planned or otherwise absence during your volunteering .i.e. during the Christmas holidays, exam period etc. This helps organisations manage their service more effectively.
Awards, Certificates and References
Awards Ceremony
Whether you have volunteered through the University Volunteering or independently you will be invited to the University of West London Volunteer Awards, celebrating your contribution to the local community. There will be numerous awards that you, your friends, or your volunteer organisation can nominate you for, as well as the opportunity to gain a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum Award.
Volunteer Awards Certificate
Every student who informs the University of West London that they are volunteering will be eligible to receive a certificate at the end of the year on the proviso that the host organisation confirms their involvement. In order to enable this students must record their hours into the UWL Volunteer logbook, and have the logbook signed by their volunteer superviser at their host organisation. This then must be submitted to the UWL Volunteer Team, Room TC032 in the St Mary’s Road campus.
References
If you have volunteered regularly through your Volunteer Placements subject to host organisation’s discretion you will be able to gain a reference from your volunteer supervisor for your future job applications. This is vital, especially if you haven’t worked before. Please note some organisations will have minimum length of service commitments before they will issue a reference.If a student wishes to gain a reference they are advised to speak to the organisation directly.
Health and Safety
Health and safety is something that the University take very seriously and do all we can to ensure students are safe in the activities they engage in. However, there are some things you need to be aware of when you are volunteering with an external organisation.
Your responsibility
If you are volunteering with an external organisation, you are primarily engaging in your volunteering as a member of the public, not a University of West London student, and therefore the responsibility for your health and safety rests with them. It is therefore strongly recommended that you speak to the contact person there to see what health and safety issues affect the volunteering and if there is anything you need to be aware of, or training available for volunteers. This will mean that you will have a greater awareness of the necessary precautions you should be taking, if applicable.
Risk Assessment
The organisation or project you will be volunteering with will have assessed the risks involved in its activities and will have ensured the risks have been minimised through appropriate control measures.
This is called a Risk Assessment and we recommend you ask to see the one done which covers the volunteering you are doing.
Working with young children
If the placement you wish to work on is working with young children, or vulnerable adults, it is quite likely that the organisation will do a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on you to assess your suitability. Please note that a criminal conviction does not automatically exclude you from taking part in any activities, it is just important that organisations are made aware of any such convictions so that they can assess the suitability of your involvement with a project in the light of any disclosure. If you have any queries about this please speak to the University of West London Volunteer Coordinator.
Report concerns
We all have a duty of care to other people, and we are all responsible for our own and other people’s safety, no matter what role we have in an organisation. So, if you see something that you are concerned about which could affect somebody’s health or safety tell somebody about it, tell a member of staff so action can be taken. Don’t simply think it is somebody else’s responsibility.
Volunteer drivers
Drivers using their own vehicles should inform their insurers of their voluntary activities. To avoid confusion with commercial use of the vehicle, they should make it clear that they will receive out-of-pocket expenses only. Volunteer drivers should not accept an increase in premium, and may wish to change insurer if their current one insists on an extra charge. It is good practice for organisations to reimburse out of pocket expenses for travel to and from your volunteering. However this is at their discretion and you are encouraged to enquire about this before your placement starts.
Confidentiality
All volunteers are asked to maintain a high level of confidentiality with regard to any information they may come into contact with during their volunteering.
During your volunteering you may develop good working relationships with the clients you work with. There needs to be a level of trust for this to happen, which will naturally occur. This can lead to confidential information being discussed, the treatment of which needs to be understood.
Any confidential information regarding individual people within your volunteering opportunity must not be relayed to other persons. This includes other volunteers or people you come into contact with, inside or outside the volunteering opportunity. The only exception is unless you believe a child or vulnerable adult to be at risk, in which case you should speak to your contact person at the organisation or the Volunteer Coordinator at the University.
Equal Opportunities Policy
The University of West London strives for students to carry out their voluntary activities in a safe, unprejudiced, discriminatory free atmosphere. All students, therefore, regardless of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability will have access to the full range of volunteering opportunities.
To challenge discrimination through volunteering it will be made clear to all students, staff members, clients and management alike that this behaviour will not be tolerated. The University of West London aims for an equality of opportunity to be achieved through volunteering.
Resolving Difficulties Procedure
The University of West London aims to treat all students taking part in volunteering fairly. However, if a situation does occur where a student feels they have been treated unfairly, you should be able to raise it. Please contact your host organisation representative and / or University of West London Volunteering Coordinator if you have a complaint. If you feel the response is not satisfactory please follow the University of West London Student’s Complaints Procedure, details can be found on the website.
Data Protection
The details held on the Registration Form will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and will only be used for the purposes of setting up, monitoring and evaluating volunteering organised through the University of West London Volunteering. The data provided will only be forwarded to third party organisations with whom the volunteer is to undertake or propose to undertake volunteering work.
Volunteers may wish to be removed from the mailing list at any time. If a student asks to be removed from the mailing list, or a student has been a graduate for more than three years, they will be classed as inactive but the data will be kept for 2 years more in case the information is needed (i.e. for the provision of references or reference material). After this time period the personal data will be removed from the database.
Expenses
The University of West London believe that students should be given out of pocket expenses for their volunteer work. External organisations are encouraged to provide this for students who volunteer with them. We are not able to provide expenses for those students who do not receive expenses from their host organisations.
And remember….
Don’t forget to enjoy your volunteer placement! Volunteering is a fantastic opportunity to meet new people, network and of course learn some valuable skills which can assist your own personal and professional development.
If you have any queries about external volunteering opportunities please do not hesitate to contact UWL’s Volunteer Service Coordinator Claire McLoughlin
E:
T: 020 8231 2319
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