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Volunteers: Code of Conduct

In June 2018, the Council's Culture and Communities Committee approved a Code of Conduct on the use of Volunteers at festivals and events.

This Code of Conduct was developed by officers in the Culture Service with Festivals Edinburgh and the 11 major Festivals to ensure that a consistent code of practice can be proposed across all events and Festivals. It brings together existing volunteering policies from across the Festivals and aligns them with good practice guidelines from Volunteer Edinburgh and Volunteer Scotland.

The Code of Conduct is comprised of 10 points:

  1. Volunteers should give of their time freely, and not through compulsion.
  2. Volunteers are unpaid roles but volunteers should receive reasonable out of pocket expenses.
  3. Volunteer roles should be genuinely additional roles, and not replace paid positions.
  4. Volunteering roles should benefit the individual volunteer as well as the organisation involved.
  5. Volunteers should be clear about their roles and responsibilities, and be provided with a role description outlining key elements of the role.
  6. Volunteers should have access to appropriate training and development, and an appropriately trained named contact to provide the necessary support for their role.
  7. Volunteers should have opportunities to contribute to volunteering policies and procedures through feedback.
  8. Volunteers should have access to a mechanism to deal with any grievances that they may have.
  9. Organisations should take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure volunteers’ health, safety and welfare while volunteering.
  10. Organisations should endeavour to involve volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities and ensure volunteering opportunities are as accessible as possible.