- Charities & Not-for-Profits Hub
Volunteers can receive reimbursement for the costs of volunteering without being paid for their time. GOV.UK gives food, drink, travel and necessary equipment as examples.[1] For a small charity, a useful starting point is to explain what you cover, how someone claims and when the money will reach them.
A volunteer should not have to guess whether asking for their bus fare back will cause a problem. This guide offers practical prompts for charity coordinators and volunteers, not individual financial, tax, benefits or legal advice. The Charity Commission guidance cited here applies to England and Wales; organisations elsewhere in the UK should check the guidance relevant to their nation.[2]
Explain the arrangements before someone spends
Tell a new volunteer where to find your expenses policy and who can answer questions. NCVO recommends making expenses information part of recruitment and induction.[3] For your next conversation, try asking whether the person knows how to claim, rather than whether they need financial help.
Use an ordinary session to make the policy concrete. If somebody travels to a community garden, who agrees the journey and buys the supplies? If they help from home, who checks any proposed purchases? Discuss unusual costs before the volunteer commits their own money. Do not leave a new coordinator to promise reimbursement without checking the charity’s arrangements.
If you volunteer, ask for the process before buying something for the organisation. Keep the reply with your role information. Where an answer is unclear, ask the named contact to confirm it rather than assuming another volunteer’s experience will apply to you.
Make a claim possible without a long explanation
The Charity Commission says volunteers should provide receipts for expenses they incur.[2] Ask your finance lead what evidence your charity needs, including how to handle a missing receipt or a journey without a paper ticket. Agree an exception process in advance rather than deciding each case at the reception desk.
Consider a short form recording the date, purpose, amount and supporting evidence. Give volunteers a clear place to send it. Before requesting a new app or spreadsheet, try the existing process yourself: can you find the form, complete it and identify the person who approves it?
Offer a way to ask questions privately. A volunteer should not have to discuss their household finances in a group chat to find out where a claim has gone. Keep the conversation focused on the expense and the charity’s process, and use the organisation’s agreed channel for payment details.
Agree who approves and who pays
Put a named contact against each stage: checking the claim, authorising it and arranging payment. Ask who provides cover when that person is away. For a small team, a simple note explaining the route may be more useful than another form nobody knows how to use.
NCVO recommends a written policy covering eligible costs, claim arrangements, payment methods and how long reimbursement takes.[3] Ask your finance lead to describe a payment timetable the charity can actually meet. Then tell volunteers what happens if a claim needs more information, including who will contact them.
Avoid making someone submit the same receipt repeatedly. If a claim is delayed, acknowledge it, check where it is in the process and give a realistic update. For coordinators, reviewing a recent completed claim is a practical way to spot a gap between the written policy and everyday practice.
Reduce the need to pay upfront
Ask whether the charity could buy supplies itself or arrange an agreed journey directly. NCVO suggests central travel bookings and purchasing resources for volunteering activities as ways to reduce volunteers’ upfront spending.[3] Check with the finance lead before changing how purchases are authorised.
For your next event, work through what a volunteer would otherwise need to buy before arriving. Could the materials already be waiting at the venue? Is there a contact who can confirm travel arrangements? Offer the same clear information to everyone rather than waiting for somebody to explain that they cannot cover a cost.
Keep reimbursement separate from promises of payment for time. GOV.UK warns that other payments, rewards or benefits in kind can affect whether someone is classed as a volunteer, worker or employee.[1] If a proposed arrangement goes beyond genuine expenses, pause and get appropriate advice before offering it. Do not try to settle someone’s status through a label on a claim form.
Test the process before the next session
This week, ask a coordinator and a volunteer to walk through one ordinary expense claim together, using a fictional example. Confirm where the policy lives, what evidence is needed and who will provide an update. Give any unanswered question an owner and a follow-up date.
If you are waiting for reimbursement, send the named contact the claim date and ask what is outstanding. If you coordinate volunteers, check that the answer is easy to obtain even when the usual finance contact is away. For wider information about running a smaller organisation, explore MH360’s charities and not-for-profits hub.
Sources
[1] https://www.gov.uk/volunteering/pay-and-expenses
[2] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-manage-your-charitys-volunteers
[3] https://www.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/involving-volunteers/planning-for-volunteers/paying-volunteer-expenses
