Employment rights act: What do the changes mean for volunteers?

For many charities, volunteers are at the heart of what they do.

Whether supporting beneficiaries, running community activities, helping in charity shops, fundraising or supporting events, volunteers can be just as important to day to day delivery as paid employees.

So, with some of the biggest changes to employment law in a generation taking place, what does the Employment Rights Act 2025 mean for charities that rely heavily on volunteers?

The good news is that genuine volunteers are not employees or workers, so they don’t automatically gain the new employment rights simply because the law is changing.

But there is an important “however”.

When does volunteering start to look like employment?

For charities, the distinction between a volunteer and a worker can sometimes become blurred, particularly where people have volunteered regularly for a long time or work closely alongside paid employees.

Simply calling someone a “volunteer” doesn’t necessarily determine their employment status. What matters is how the relationship works in practice.

It’s worth asking some practical questions. Are volunteers expected to attend at fixed times each week? What happens if they can’t attend? Are they receiving payments or benefits beyond genuine expenses? Do they feel they can say no to particular activities? Has a flexible volunteering arrangement gradually become something that looks and feels more like paid work?

For charities managing stretched resources and increasing demand for services, it’s easy for volunteering arrangements to evolve organically over time. That doesn’t necessarily mean there is a problem, but it does make this a good time to take a fresh look at how those relationships operate.

Think about your wider workplace culture too

The changes aren’t only about employment status.

From 30 October 2026, employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees, alongside strengthened protection in relation to third party harassment.

For charities, volunteers should form part of that wider conversation about workplace culture.

A volunteer could witness inappropriate behaviour, experience inappropriate behaviour themselves, or potentially behave inappropriately towards an employee, beneficiary or another volunteer.

That makes clear standards of conduct, safeguarding arrangements, reporting routes and appropriate training particularly important. Volunteers should understand what behaviour your charity expects and, just as importantly, know where to turn if something doesn’t feel right.

What should charities do now?

The key message is don’t panic, but don’t assume that volunteers sit completely outside these conversations either.

Take the opportunity to review your volunteer agreements, role descriptions and everyday working arrangements. Make sure your written documentation reflects what genuinely happens in practice and avoid introducing unnecessary contractual language or obligations into volunteer agreements.

It is also worth looking at volunteer arrangements as part of your wider review of policies, safeguarding, conduct standards and training ahead of the employment law changes.

Volunteers remain an incredibly important part of the charity sector and nothing about these changes alters that.

Instead, the Employment Rights Act 2025 provides a useful prompt to pause and sense-check your arrangements.

A fairly straightforward review now could help charities continue to provide a positive volunteering experience while protecting their people, beneficiaries and organisation from avoidable risk. Get in touch with one of our experts if you would like assistance.