Compliance and Guidance
Keeping things safe and legal
On this page we highlight the importance of our role descriptions and volunteer agreement, we cover whistle-blowing and gifts and hospitality, and link to specific compliance areas such as health and safety and safeguarding.
Being aware of our volunteer agreement and your role description will help you avoid running into issues in many of our compliance areas, as they set out mutual expectations, and the agreed tasks and activities that make up your role.
Through volunteer role descriptions, Guide Dogs sets out which tasks or activities volunteers can undertake. Role descriptions not only provide a useful overview of what’s expected in each volunteering role, but they also help to ensure that we’re not putting volunteers in a position where they may face or unintentionally cause harm.
Please take the time to familiarise yourself with the role description of each volunteering role you hold. It will tell you which tasks or activities form part of your role(s).
If you’re not sure what’s in your role description, you can look for your role on the volunteering pages of our website. Once you're on the relevant page, head to the on-page navigation menu and click on the subheading ‘What you’ll be doing’. For some of our less common volunteer roles, please ask your volunteer manager for a copy of the role description.
Our volunteer agreement outlines our general expectations of volunteers (as well as what you can expect from us). As with our role descriptions, one aspect of the agreement is to ensure we are being clear on how we can help protect you and others. For example, our volunteer agreement asks volunteers to ‘read and comply with all policies, procedures and related documents we have provided to you.
We strive to make Guide Dogs a charity where volunteers can freely share feedback and raise any concerns with their volunteer manager.
There may be times when you may feel uncomfortable or think it’s inappropriate to raise a specific issue with your volunteer manager.
For example, if:
If any of the above applies to you, please consider using our whistleblowing policy and procedure.
Whistleblowing is the reporting of organisational concerns which relate to suspected wrongdoing or dangers. This may include criminal activity, danger to health and safety, bribery, fraud, and abuse (of people or animals).
Any concern raised through whistleblowing is taken seriously and investigated, if appropriate. A whistleblower can expect their concern to remain confidential.
Please note that whistleblowing shouldn’t be used for complaints relating to your own personal circumstances. For example, how you’ve been treated.
If you are unsure about whether something is classed as a concern under this policy, you can contact our Whistleblowing Officer on speakoutatguidedogs@guidedogs.org.uk.
For complaints relating to your personal circumstances, please use our Volunteer Complaints Procedure.
As a volunteer, you might be offered a thoughtful gift from a service user or someone from a third party looking to connect with Guide Dogs to get business or an endorsement.
We have to be very careful about this, as we have to comply with the Bribery Act as an organisation. Bribery is the act of accepting gifts, money, hospitality or other favours in return for providing something of value to the briber.
Gifts from service users have the potential to put volunteers into compromising positions, blurring boundaries in the relationship between our volunteers and service users. This could lead to a misunderstanding from others; for example, from a service user's family.
A ‘gift’ could be a small item or something of considerable value.
All gifts, regardless of value, must be declared to your volunteer manager, except for token gifts such as advertising merchandise given by suppliers which should have a value of £5 or less. For example, branded pens, mugs, confectionery etc.
Volunteers may accept a one-off gift from a service user, but it must be low value (no more than an estimated value of £15), and it should still be reported to a volunteer manager, even if the gift is lower than £5. The service user's gesture cannot be repeated.
No gifts to the value of more than £50 may be accepted. If a gift is offered of more than £50 and refused, it must still be reported to your volunteer manager.
Under no circumstances can cash gifts of any amount be accepted. This doesn’t include vouchers, which can be accepted up to a value of £50.
It’s the responsibility of volunteers to report any gifts or hospitality offered, whether these have been accepted or not. Please report this and any concerns of attempts of bribery to your volunteer manager, as these need to be recorded internally.
If you find yourself in a situation where you’re offered a gift which contravenes the rules outlined above or feel uncomfortable accepting anything, please explain to the donor that Guide Dogs has strict guidelines in place that you cannot break. If appropriate, you may wish to suggest that they make a donation to the organisation via our website.