Volunteers
[page 32]Genuine volunteers are neither employees nor workers, because there is no mutuality of obligation (see page 13). In other words, there is no legal obligation on the volunteer to do work or on the employer to offer it. A legal contract requires “consideration”, that is, a promise to provide something (usually money) in return for something else (Ajar-Tec Limited v Stack [2012] EWCA Civ 543). In an employment setting, this is usually work in return for wages. The fact that volunteers look and act just like their colleagues in relation to their skill or experience, the hours they usually work or the tasks they carry out, does not turn them into employees or workers if they are offering their services on a genuinely voluntary basis.
Volunteers are specifically excluded from the National Minimum Wage (see Chapter 4). And they are not covered by the employment provisions of the Equality Act 2010 (X (Appellant) v Mid Sussex Citizens Advice Bureau [2012] UKSC 59), or whistleblowing protection.