Catherine's insights were published in Governance & Leadership, 16 July 2026, and can be seen here.
Catherine Gage, Associate in our Charities team, represented Hunters at a recent roundtable exploring the growing legal and regulatory challenges facing charities that rely on volunteers.
The discussion highlighted how charities can navigate an increasingly complex landscape while continuing to provide positive and rewarding volunteer experiences.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of charities, but they also bring varied and growing risks. This insightful roundtable, held at Hunters, with Catherine Gage as the representative legal expert, reveals just how such things as UK GDPR breaches, health and safety considerations, terrorism prevention, as well as employment and charity law failures increasingly threaten the sector. With volunteer numbers surging, Catherine notes that even well-meaning perks or casual agreements can imply worker, or even employee, status.
The discussion highlighted the increasingly complex legal landscape charities must navigate when managing volunteers. Participants explored a range of issues including data protection, safeguarding, fundraising regulation, health and safety obligations and employment law considerations. Catherine emphasised the importance of effective volunteer management throughout the entire volunteer life cycle, from recruitment and induction through to ongoing training and offboarding, helping charities minimise risk while maintaining compliance.
Looking ahead, participants considered emerging challenges including the impact of Martyn's Law, increasing cyber and data protection risks, and the need for suitable insurance coverage. While acknowledging the growing compliance burden facing charities, the discussion concluded that organisations can successfully balance legal obligations with a positive volunteer experience by adopting proportionate policies, investing in training and regularly reviewing their volunteer management practices.
Discover some ideas about how to protect your own charity
- Implement robust volunteer induction programmes and clearly drafted volunteer agreements.
- Ensure volunteer expenses are reimbursed appropriately and do not risk creating employment rights.
- Provide suitable GDPR, safeguarding and health and safety training.
- Review volunteer privacy notices and data retention policies.
- Assess preparedness for Martyn's Law and other emerging regulatory requirements.
- Review insurance policies to ensure volunteers are appropriately covered.
- Develop effective volunteer management and offboarding procedures.
Roundtable participants
- Catherine Gage, Associate Solicitor, Hunters Law
- Faith Hojeer, Head of Volunteering, Keech Hospice
- Vanessa Theed, Vice Chair, Heritage Volunteering Group
- Jenny Murphy, Volunteer Manager, Museum of the Home
- Jacob Przeklasa, Global Programmes and Operations Lead, CISV International, and Trustee, Association of Volunteer Manager
Read the full article on the Civil Society website [external link].