What is the difference between volunteering and voluntary work?

Asked by Amalia Loizidou

Thanks for the question Amalia.

At face value, the answer to this question is ‘nothing’. Volunteering and Voluntary work are two terms that can be used interchangeably to describe what someone does of their own free will, without financial gain, for the benefit of those other than immediate family (as the common definitions of volunteering go).

There is, however a distinction made between volunteers and voluntary workers in the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (NMWA), specifically in section 44.

This clause in the legislation has been the bane of many a Volunteer Manager’s life since the law was passed in 1998. It has caused great confusion as to when someone is a volunteer or the separate category of voluntary worker and people have been tied up in knots trying to interpret and apply the legislation in their own context and setting. This has been especially true when people talk about unpaid internships (see here for example).

I prefer to keep things simple so my understanding is this.

A volunteer in the eyes of the NMWA is what we would all understand a volunteer to be — giving time of their own free will, not getting paid (other than expense reimbursement) and doing it to benefit parties other than their immediate family.

A voluntary worker in the NMWA is someone who may meet these criteria but is engaged in a role such as those operated by Volunteering Matters. When the legislation was being drafted they were called CSV and they were, understandably concerned, that their long-established model of volunteering would be under threat. This is where people serve full-time for an extended period and, in return, receive free accommodation, a subsistence allowance, living expenses and training & development opportunities etc.

CSV was concerned that their full-time vols might be viewed by the NMWA as actually being employees and so eligible for pay. They, therefore, lobbied to have their model of volunteering recognised within the legislation and thus the Voluntary worker was created.

NB. I will say that I may have almost thirty years of experience in volunteer engagement but I am not a legal expert so please take legal advice before making any decisions based on my understanding set out above.

I hope that is helpful in answering the question Amalia.

I will add one further thought and possible point for debate in the comments. There are some who dislike the association of the word ‘work’ with the word ‘volunteer’. They argue that volunteering isn’t work and to call it such may be aligning it too closely with employment. Personally, I tend to disagree. Lots of volunteering I have done has been very much work. But that point of discussion may be a whole other thread of debate about the difference between volunteering and voluntary work.

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Now it’s over to you.

How would you answer Amalia’s question?

Leave a comment with your ideas and don’t forget to ask your own question by emailing Rob now — rob@robjacksonconsulting.com, with the subject line “Ask Rob Anything“