Step 2:

Ensure that your equal opportunities policy applies to all posts for paid and volunteer workers

Voluntary organisations that employ paid and volunteer workers should have an equal opportunities policy which sets out their commitment to the fair treatment of workers, potential workers and service users regardless of:

gender;
disability;
‘race’, (which means colour, nationality, citizenship, ethnic or national origin);
sexual orientation;
marital status;
age;
religious or political belief;
offending background (see section below on the recruitment of ex-offenders).

Voluntary organisations that employ paid workers are required to meet their legal duties under a range of “equalities” legislation including:

Disability Discrimination Act 1995;
Sex Discrimination Act 1975;
Race Relations Act 1976;
Employment Equality (Religion of Belief) Regulations 2003 and the
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003.

All voluntary organisations (from the largest to the smallest) should remember their moral duty to promote equality of opportunity for volunteers as well as for paid workers.

The recently launched Volunteering Strategy (Scottish Executive, 2004) stated that despite the significant demand for volunteers, individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds, the unemployed, the long term sick and disabled, the poor and those lacking in formal qualifications are consistently under-represented in volunteering, although they appear no less willing than others to volunteer.

When recruiting workers you should always remember that the sole qualification for recruitment should be their suitability to perform certain tasks.

In relation to the Act, this also means their suitability to work with children and young people in child care positions (as defined under Schedule 2 of the Act).

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