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At Sheffield Volunteer Centre (part of the registered charity Voluntary Action Sheffield, The Circle, 33 Rockingham Lane, Sheffield S1 4FW. Charity Number 223007 and Company Limited by guarantee no. 215695) we take our obligations under the Data Protection Act (1998) very seriously. We are registered with the information commissioner.

We offer user registration to make it as easy as possible for you to apply online for volunteering opportunities.

When you ‘Register your interest’ in an opportunity, we will forward your details to the opportunity provider. If the opportunity is advertised by an opportunity broker (such as a Volunteer Centre), your details may be sent to both the broker and the organisation hosting the opportunity in order to take your application forward.

We will also hold this information ourselves, to allow you to apply for another opportunity without having to complete a new form. This information is held securely on our database system.

The opportunity provider might forward your details to the organisation hosting the opportunity in order to take your application forward. Otherwise, the information will never be passed on to a third party without your permission unless we are legally obliged to do so.

We will supply you with contact details for the organisation that your application is sent to. If a broker chooses to forward your information to the organisation hosting the opportunity, they should provide you with contact details for this. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other organisations you deal with or sites that you visit.

You can choose to be searchable in our volunteer bank or you can choose to opt out of this and only be seen by organisations when you have registered an interest in their opportunity.

Organisations that register with Volunteer Connect, have to agree to the Terms and Conditions to advertise volunteering vacancies and they do this by making the following commitment:

1. Volunteering is open to everyone

    Volunteers from all backgrounds are welcomed

2. Out of pocket expenses are paid*.

    * We encourage applications from small groups so if you are a group without paid staff and don’t have a budget to pay expenses you can still apply.

3. Recruitment of volunteers is fair and prompt

    Volunteers are contacted promptly and requirements are appropriate for each role. Responsibility for recruiting and selecting volunteers remains with your organisation, not with the Volunteer Centre.

4. Induction and training.

    Training needs for each role are identified and volunteers receive the necessary induction and training to do their role.

5. Support and supervision

    A named person ensures ongoing support appropriate to the role.

6. Insurance, health and safety, safeguarding and other legal requirements are met

    The physical and emotional risks of volunteering are identified, minimised and covered by Health and Safety checks, risk assessments and adequate insurance. This includes as a minimum:

• Public liability insurance
• Employers liability insurance
• Safeguarding policy (if working with children or vulnerable adults)
• DBS checks (if required) are completed in line with current guidelines

Why we ask for personal information e.g. Date of birth, Gender, ethnicity, disability

We ask for information about disability and ethnicity to help us, the opportunity provider and the opportunity host with equal opportunities monitoring. This is important data for us to collect, so we can demonstrate we are reaching all sectors of the community and demonstrate our commitment to equal opportunities. When we compile this data, it is done anonymously, by choosing to submit this information you consent to the processing of this information by us and these organisations.

Information you provide is also collated to help us to demonstrate our impact to funders and develop our service to further meet users’ needs.

If you decide you want to disable your account, your details are automatically removed from our database if you have not used your account for more than three years. We will also remove your details if we are unable to contact you or you do not confirm your email address. You are entitled to ask for a copy of the information we store about you (for which we may charge a small fee not exceeding £10).

If you have any concerns or questions please contact us.

Why we ask for your date of birth

We ask for your date of birth for a number of reasons, which help us (and our partner organisations that provide volunteering opportunities:

• Not all volunteering opportunities are open to all age groups (e.g. some are specifically for young people or older people and many organisations cannot involve volunteers under the age of 16 etc) so it helps our partners place volunteers in appropriate opportunities;
• Our partner organisations need to ensure that they are involving all sections of their community and have to demonstrate this to their funders so they require date of birth to be included in the registration process. By supplying it here it means it is transferred directly on to the partner’s database;
• It helps us monitor who is using Volunteer Connect. We have a stated aim of ensuring that we are reaching all sections of society.

Age discrimination laws do not currently apply to volunteering opportunities.