industry-guides
Charity and voluntary organisation employment contracts
Draft charity employment contracts covering employees, volunteers, funding, safeguarding, confidentiality, hybrid work and trustee oversight.
Charities and voluntary organisations need to distinguish paid employment from volunteering while managing grant funding, safeguarding, public trust and limited resources. A clear employment contract protects both sides and helps trustees demonstrate responsible governance.
Employees are different from volunteers
Paid staff should receive employment terms appropriate to their status. Volunteers normally contribute without contractual obligations to work or payment beyond genuine expenses. Calling a regular paid worker a volunteer can create minimum-wage, tax and employment-rights risk.
Use a volunteer agreement to explain expectations, support and expenses without creating employment language such as salary, mandatory hours or disciplinary sanctions. Review arrangements where volunteers receive benefits, are required to attend fixed shifts or perform work under close control.
Employees should receive day-one written particulars covering the legal employer, role, start date, pay, hours, holiday, workplace, probation, training and notice.
Funding and fixed-term roles
Grant-funded work does not automatically make every role fixed term. Where a position genuinely depends on funding for a defined period, state the end date or objective event and explain the position if funding changes. Avoid promising automatic termination without consultation.
Successive fixed-term contracts can create additional rights, and the expiry of a fixed term is a dismissal for legal purposes. Monitor end dates, consult in advance and search for suitable alternative work. Do not wait until the final week of a grant.
If funding reduces, follow a genuine redundancy process rather than assuming the funder's decision removes employer obligations. Use our redundancy consultation checklist.
Role boundaries and governance
Describe reporting lines between employees, the chief executive, trustees and committees. Trustees govern and oversee; they should not inadvertently create conflicting day-to-day instructions outside agreed delegation.
Set authority for spending, fundraising statements, media, contracts and access to donor or beneficiary information. Senior roles may require declarations of interests and additional confidentiality, but restrictions should remain proportionate.
Where employees also volunteer, separate the arrangements and avoid pressure to provide unpaid work beyond contracted hours. Record overtime or time off consistently.
Safeguarding and safer recruitment
Roles involving children or adults at risk require appropriate recruitment checks, references, induction, supervision and reporting. A DBS check is one control, not a complete safeguarding system.
Define role boundaries, codes of conduct and mandatory reporting. Employees should know how to raise concerns about colleagues, volunteers, trustees, partners or service users. Protect whistleblowers and avoid confidentiality wording that appears to prevent lawful disclosure.
Confidentiality, data and stories
Charities may hold sensitive beneficiary, donor, health, safeguarding and financial information. Limit access by role and explain secure remote work, case records, photography, fundraising stories and data incidents.
Consent to receive a service is not necessarily consent for marketing. Do not identify beneficiaries in campaigns without a lawful basis and appropriate controls. Employment confidentiality should protect information while allowing legitimate safeguarding and regulatory reports.
Hours, flexibility and wellbeing
Community work may involve evenings, travel, events, home visits and emotional demands. State normal hours, time off, overtime approval, travel and on-call expectations. Avoid a culture where dedication to the cause is used to justify unpaid excessive hours.
Assess lone work, violence, secondary trauma and workload. Provide supervision, debriefing and access to support. A wellbeing statement is not a substitute for manageable work design.
Charity onboarding checklist
Trustees should receive proportionate workforce assurance without becoming informal line managers. Useful reporting includes vacancies, turnover, safeguarding training, grievances, serious incidents and upcoming fixed-term funding decisions. Personal details should be limited to what governance genuinely requires.
When funding or strategy changes, consult employees before decisions are final. Mission importance does not reduce employment obligations. Record alternatives, equality impact and effects on beneficiaries, then use a fair redundancy or contractual-change process where required.
- verify identity, right to work and role-appropriate references;
- issue the contract and delegated authority;
- distinguish employee, trustee and volunteer responsibilities;
- complete safeguarding and data-protection induction;
- explain expenses, travel and additional-hours rules;
- provide whistleblowing and concern-reporting routes;
- diarise probation, funding and training reviews.
Build an employment contract using the actual role, funding position and workplace. Pair it with an employee handbook reflecting the charity's governance and safeguarding arrangements.
This guide is general information, not legal or charity-law advice. Obtain specialist advice on status, safeguarding, funding-related redundancy or senior appointments.
