Hi All

Couldn't have put it better myself. In straightforward terms "there is no such thing as a volunteer in UK Law, they are simply unpaid employees" and as such should be treated in the same way as an employee employed at the same level to do the same kind of work. This applies in terms of all Health and Safety Legislation, Working Time Directive etc etc

Of course it would be easy to set up a Job Role / Job Description specifically for volunteers working within the setting which enables them to do some things and not others - e.g. filling in forms, toileting etc after CRB checks. And in that respect you are not descriminating etc ... simply working within a Volunteers Job Description!

Mark