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email admin@keighleyvc.co.uk

Customer Care Policy

Keighley & District Volunteer Centre is an independent charity (No. 1090144) that works to promote volunteering and to support local voluntary and community organisations in the district.

This policy is used by the staff in our Volunteer Centre as a guide to ensure you receive the best possible services from us. It is also on our website so that you can access it and know what to expect from our services.

We aim to help the community in two main ways

Encouraging people to volunteer and supporting existing volunteers by:

    Developing and seeking out volunteering opportunities
    Promoting those opportunities to as wide a local audience as possible
    Offering training and support, where possible, to those looking to volunteer
    Making sure that the hard-work done by volunteers in the area is recognised
    Lobbying for the rights of volunteers

Supporting organisations who involve volunteers in their work by:

    Promoting volunteering and voluntary opportunities on behalf of organisations
    Recruiting and basic selection of volunteers
    Offering advice and information on good practice when working with and selecting volunteers
    Through the volunteer coordinators' forum, offer networking and support opportunities
    Offering training and support in all aspects of volunteer recruitment and management
    Working as a registered umbrella body with the CRB, we can process CRB checks on behalf of organisations
    Providing discounted ancillary services such as photocopying/printing and room-hire

Keighley & District Volunteer Centre has five core functions:

  1. Strategic Development of Volunteering
    Through the activity of the Volunteer Centre and its engagement with local networks and decision makers there is a positive environment in which volunteering is flourishing.
  2. Good Practice Development
    Through the activity of the Volunteer Centre; organisations from all sectors (involving or providing volunteers) improve or attain positive consistency in their volunteering programmes.
  3. Developing Volunteering Opportunities
    The Volunteer Centre’s development activity increases and improves the quantity, quality, and diversity of volunteering locally.
  4. Voice of Volunteering
    Through the Volunteer Centre’s activities there is an increased awareness of the issues impacting on volunteering.
  5. Brokerage
    Through the Volunteer Centre’s activities the general public and all sectors are better informed about and have access to an effective and efficient brokerage service.

Our two main customers groups are:

  • People who want to volunteer,
  • Organisations that involve or would like to involve volunteers, this includes public, private, voluntary and community groups.

    • People who want to volunteer

    Making an enquiry

    Keighley & District Volunteer Centre defines a ‘volunteer enquiry’ as initial contact between the volunteer centre and a member of the public. This could include a request for information about volunteering in general or relating to a specific opportunity. Enquiries may be made by phone, email, in person or via the Do-it website.

    Our commitment to you

  • All telephone calls will be answered in a prompt and helpful manner.
  • Do-it and email enquiries will be responded to within 10 working days.
  • Where we are unable to do this (for example if someone is on annual leave) we will inform you as soon as possible and agree a new deadline.
  • Upon request, staff will book confidential, one to one interviews/appointments at the earliest available time.
  • We will be punctual for all appointments.
  • We will take required information from our customers in a courteous and sensitive manner.

    • Helping you find a volunteering opportunity

    By ‘opportunity’ we mean a volunteer role available for members of the public to become involved in – this could be a one-off activity or a long-term activity.

    Our commitment to you

  • We will use a variety of methods to match volunteers to appropriate volunteering opportunities, including telephone and one-to-one interviews, drop-in sessions and Do-it (the national volunteering database).

  • We will collect and use information (such as your contact details, the type of volunteering you are interested in and some personal details like your age, gender and ethnicity) in line with our confidentiality and data protect policies and data protection legislation (For a copy of our Data Protection Policy please contact the centre on 01535 609506 )

  • We will use your details to demonstrate to our funders and partners that we are able to reach all sectors of the community, but we will never identify you individually without your permission

  • We will operate within current equality legislation (the Equality Act 2010).

  • We will do our best to match your skills, experience and background to an appropriate volunteering opportunity.

  • If we think an opportunity is unsuitable for you we will always explain the reason why and offer a suitable alternative.

    • Helping you find a volunteering opportunity

    By ‘opportunity’ we mean a volunteer role available for members of the public to become involved in – this could be a one-off activity or a long-term activity.

    Our commitment to you

  • We will use a variety of methods to match volunteers to appropriate volunteering opportunities, including telephone and one-to-one interviews, drop-in sessions and Do-it (the national volunteering database).

  • We will collect and use information (such as your contact details, the type of volunteering you are interested in and some personal details like your age, gender and ethnicity) in line with our confidentiality and data protect policies and data protection legislation (For a copy of our Data Protection Policy please contact the centre on 01535 609506 )

  • We will use your details to demonstrate to our funders and partners that we are able to reach all sectors of the community, but we will never identify you individually without your permission.

  • We will operate within current equality legislation (the Equality Act 2010).

  • We will do our best to match your skills, experience and background to an appropriate volunteering opportunity.

  • If we think an opportunity is unsuitable for you we will always explain the reason why and offer a suitable alternative.

    • We work hard to ensure that we have a wide variety of opportunities to offer to people, but there may be times when we do not have the placement you want. In this case we will

  • Keep records of areas of volunteering that are in high demand, promote our services to, and work with, organisations in these fields to help them develop and create more opportunities.
  • Offer you alternative opportunities based on your interests.
  • Where possible, we will inform you about what to expect from different recruitment processes for the opportunities you are interested in. We will keep an up to date database of volunteering opportunities and individuals who want to volunteer.
  • Where no suitable volunteer opportunity exists, the Volunteer Centre will follow its mismatch process.

    • Screening

    Different volunteering opportunities will require you to undergo different levels of screening. This could include interviews, providing references and Criminal Record Bureau Check (particularly opportunities that involve working with children or vulnerable adults). If you have any previous convictions this will not necessarily stop you from volunteering.

    Our commitment to you

  • We will inform you if an opportunity requires any kind of screening
  • We will explain what to expect.
  • We will discuss any concerns you might have about this in a confidential interview.

    • Expenses

    Our commitment to you

  • We always encourage organisations to pay their volunteers’ expenses. Including travel to and from the volunteering opportunity and the cost of any training or equipment that you need to carry out your volunteer role.
  • If an organisation is unable to pay expenses we will inform you of this so that you can make an informed decision as to whether you want to volunteer there.

    • Organisations that involve or would like to involve volunteers

    ‘Opportunity’ is an activity or the delivery of a service that benefits someone else, the local community or the environment and is done by someone on a voluntary basis, i.e. they have chosen to do it, unpaid. A volunteering opportunity can be long-term, short term or one off.

    If your organisation has a volunteering opportunity that you wish to register with Keighley & District Volunteer Centre, you will be required first to register your organisation with us. This involves completing a registration form.

    We’ll ask you about your organisation, its aims and area of work. We’ll also ask about some of the policies and procedures you have in place to ensure the safety and fair treatment of volunteers. We may choose not to register your opportunities until you have certain policies and procedures in place, but we will support you in developing the necessary policies and procedures wherever possible. With regards to your volunteering opportunity, we’ll want to know all the details of what the role is, where it’ll be based, your recruitment and screening processes if applicable and whether or not you’ll pay travel expenses.

    Helping organisations to find volunteers

    Our commitment to you

    We Will

    Compliments and complaints

    Our commitment to you

    In order to get your feedback about our services we will send out an annual comprehensive follow up survey to organisations and volunteers on our database. We will use your feedback to improve the way we deliver our services.

    Occasionally users of the Volunteer Centre may feel they have not received the standard of service that they expect. This can lead to dissatisfaction and frustration. In recognising this, Volunteer Centre has set out a procedure to enable individuals to raise their concerns and for us to respond to them in an appropriate way. Any individual who wishes to make a complaint should be advised to talk to the Centre Manager in the first instance and will given the appropriate telephone number / email address. Alternatively if this is not appropriate as the complaint refers to the manager in question the complainant should be given the details of the relevant trustee or member of the Management Committee. An accessible version of Keighley & District Volunteer Centre’s complaints procedure is available upon request. We will also make our complaints procedures available on line at www.keighleyvc.co.uk

    Mismach between the needs of volunteers and organisations

    An annual check should be made on the variety of organisations and active volunteering opportunities registered with the Volunteer Centre, checking that the types of opportunities on offer reflect the interests of potential volunteers. We should aim for a ratio of 1 volunteering opportunity for every 10 expressions of interest in a particular area of interest. Any specific actions required will be documented and progress regularly monitored.

    If a specific volunteering gap is identified or a volunteer expresses an interest in a certain type of volunteering opportunity that is not currently registered with the Volunteer Centre, then the Volunteer Centre should be pro-active in researching and contacting member organisations that could offer that type of volunteering experience. If there are no member organisations that can offer the identified volunteering experience, then the Volunteer Centre should be proactive in going out and contacting organisations that could provide that opportunity and encourage them to register with the Volunteer Centre.

    If work with member organisations identifies a need for volunteers with a particular skill that they are finding it hard to recruit, then the Volunteer Centre will be pro-active in engaging in marketing activities to reach potential suitable volunteers. If any "hard to fill" opportunities are identified, then the Volunteer Centre will discuss this with the volunteer-involving organisation, looking at adjusting the role description, re-targeting the opportunity or developing a new opportunity that incorporates some of the activities that have not been filled.

    An annual approach will be made to registered organisations that have no active volunteering opportunities registered with the Volunteer Centre, to see if their volunteering needs have changed.

    The Volunteer Centre should work with other local Volunteer development agencies to share information and develop other volunteering opportunities jointly.

    Follow-up and evaluation procedures for volunteers

    A follow-up enquiry should be undertaken with all volunteer enquirers 12 weeks after their initial enquiry. This can be done by telephone, email or letter.

    Follow-up contact information requested should include:

    Follow-up feedback will be responded to as needed on an individual basis and any examples of poor practice from volunteer-involving organisations will be followed up by the volunteer centre.

    Feedback responses from volunteers will be compiled into an annual service report which will go to members of the Volunteer Centre Board and will inform them of the development of the organisations services.

    Follow-up and evaluation procedures for organisations

    All organisations advertising opportunities with the volunteer centre will be contacted at least annually to review their existing opportunities, to ask them to consider advertising alternative opportunities and to remind organisations of the other services that the centres can provide.

    Each year all the organisations that have used the centre will be asked to complete a feedback form on the performance of the centre. (See Organisations Annual Feedback Form)