The person you look after may benefit from personal care or support. This could be provided by care workers or personal assistants who are paid to do this work, but in some cases, unpaid volunteers can provide care.
Types of volunteer
The work a volunteer does can vary enormously, and could include:
- Befriending. This could include regular visits to someone in their own home or going out with them to leisure, social or educational activities.
- Specific activities such as doing the gardening or jobs in the home.
- A more extensive role, such as living in shared accommodation and providing assistance or supervision.
- Accompanying the person when they go on holiday.
Example
Joy is frail, her family lives a long way away and she doesn't have much social contact with anyone. Her daughter contacts Age UK and they introduce Joy to a volunteer befriender who visits her on a regular basis and takes her to a local social group once a month.
Flexibility
The help a volunteer provides can be invaluable. It is likely to be more informal and flexible than help from paid workers. A volunteer may also be able to provide care and support in situations where it's difficult to find a paid care worker.
However, it is sensible to take some basic precautions if a volunteer is going to provide some care for the person you look after. The type of checks you need to make will depend on your circumstances and the work the volunteer is likely to do.
If the volunteer is introduced to you by an organisation, ask the organisation about the following matters:
Criminal Records Bureau checks
Ask whether an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check has been done. This check identifies whether the volunteer is unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. A new vetting and barring scheme for people working with children and vulnerable adults was planned for July 2010, but this scheme has been halted as it is being reviewed by the government.
References
You should also ask whether the organisation has checked references for the volunteer.
Manual handling and personal care
If the volunteer will be doing any manual handling or personal care tasks such as washing the person you care for, you should confirm whether they've had any relevant training and experience. You should also check whether they're covered by insurance (see below).
Health and safety
The person you look after has a duty to ensure that conditions are safe for the person providing them with care. This is no different for an unpaid worker. A risk assessment should be carried out to establish whether there are any particular tasks or hazards that could cause problems for the volunteer.
Insurance
You and the person you look after need to consider insurance cover for two reasons. First, to cover any risk of injury to the volunteer and, second, to cover the risk of the volunteer injuring the person you care for.
Check with the organisation supplying the volunteer whether there's any existing insurance cover for either risk. Check also whether the person you care for already has appropriate insurance, such as employer’s liability insurance or public liability insurance.
Code of conduct
Ask the organisation introducing the volunteer whether it has a code of conduct for volunteers to work within. This may include, for example, the volunteer agreeing to respect confidentiality, privacy or the cultural preferences of the person they're looking after.
If you or the person you care for have found someone to provide unpaid care without going through an organisation, it is probably even more important that you carry out as many checks as you can and make sure that insurance is in place.
