to think you should be able to claim childcare as an expense (just like travel) if you're doing voluntary work?!

[RanToTheHills]

ok,so i was wondering about giving up my time for a goodish cause in an unpaid capacity. Before filling in the application form, i just wanted to check whether childcare could be claimed for as travel can be. Is this so weird? got a rather patronising response (poor mum,trying to milk the system type) , or am i just paranoid?!

sod it.I'll go and get paid work then!

I don't think you'll pull that one off, nice try though

I have a voluntary position and can claim childcare if I need to attend meetings, but not just for work I do for them at home. It probably depends on the charity.

but why? (stamps foot) I'd only be claiming a small amount, less actually than for travel. It's the principle I'm objecting to,I can afford not to be paid (which is why I want to do voluntary work)but not to lose out significantly by doing so, ifyswim?

Well, I can see where you're coming from (have been a paid volunteer manager).

The thing is, most charities just cant afford it. Fundraising is a bugger, and its not even a case these days of having to raise X amount- you have to display core funding to take on projects, and then there's all the other things like ringfencing (eg money raised for X has to be spent on X even if X is all paid for).... so its unlikely you'd get it.

Any volunteer manager I know would bite your hand off if they could. They just can't.

it'snot a charity, it's a gov advisory body that's why I@m particularly

I think that's a bit off, if it's a govt advisory body, particularly as there is complete inconsistency as to which ones pay only expenses and which pay proper money.

iknow and they say the usual blurb about particularly welcoming applications from under-represented groups such as women!

Then I guess you should stand your ground in telling them it's reasonable (even if you have to accept that they won't give it to you) and put your feelings about this in writing, to whoever is in charge.

had a response- my comment "has been noted and will be passed on to the appropriate person".Yeah right, filed in the bin more like. fume, fume.

My local Homestart contributes towards childcare.

hijack ilanak

sorry to bother you but are you still selling your silver cross? if so email me tobys_mummy at btinternet dot com

Also a former volunteers manager (paid) I have to disagree with PeachyClair's comment "...most charities just cant afford it..." SOME charities dont have the foresight to claim for childcare expenses for volunteers. However, many do. Volunteers childcare costs should be an automatic inclusion in funding bids and it is not difficult to get. IN fact, most funding bodies that are used to organisations requesting funding to cover volunteers costs, do generally remind them to include childcare in their costings.
For a govt advisory body to be indulging in somehting that clearly does not portray "equal opps" in their volunteer recruitment programme is disgusting. I'd get back to them and start spouting about "equal opps" and discriminatory practice.

i know joash,but it's getting embarrassing.I've e-mailed several times and the reply (from a woman incidently) has suggested a tone of slight contempt-as if I'm trying to play the system in some way. Makes me fume actually! And all this for unpaid work!

OK Joash- I will acknowledge charities differ: as it happens ours almost went bankrupt as funders withdrew suddenly, and we were subsisting for a long time in the knowledge that patying rent was enough of a challenge- in the end just after I left (to have ds3) they amde all but 1 person redundant.

Certainly charities such as the other huge one I worked for- macmillan- can and will claim these things as part of funding proposals, however they also have reserves not available to smaller charities in times of crisis. If my charity had the chance to claim X thousand from a funder, it would have been pointless ringfencing an amount for childcare. As it happened, our vollies didnt claim anything, they knew what had happened (basically surestart funded us then pulled out suddenly at the same time we reached the end of our lottery funding timescale).

I houldnt ahve assumed it was a small chairty- actually, it wsnt a charity at all! ut they do vary, hugely. We all know of charities thatnoperate on a surplus as well as those who really do subsist.

they're going to have to watch it when the new gender equality duty comes in (always assuming it has any teeth)

I'm a school governor, which is a voluntary post. Although I cannot claim childcare expenses for evening meetings, I can claim for extra meetings which are called during the day and training. However, although this is policy, the school bursar is reluctant to honour these expenses (I've witnessed her e-mails to the head!). It's worth finding about.

that attitude's terrible,esp from a school!
Out of interest, what training is required for sch governors then?

As well as attending meetings,(which seem to come thick and fast) we are expected to attend training during the evenings. We can choose to attend as many sessions as we like, but are expected to go about twice a year as well as attending whole governing body training sessions about twice a year. The whole gov. body training has to be linked to the needs of our school. eg our last session was 'monitoring and evaluating'. Individual govs tend to attend courses which are associated with the committees they are on, or specific gov roles. I have attended a course about 'more able children' as that is my designated role. My role as a gov as expanded massively during the last three years - it is a major committment. They now publish individuals attence at a meeting once a year to name and shame you - I nearly left for this reason!

I agree about this. I do voluntary work and was told when I started that I must claim my expenses as there was no way I should be out of pocket as a result of volunteering. Unfortunately they didn't stipulate that this only referred to travel. I had to do a 5 day course which resulted in finding childcare for my 3 after school for a couple of hours each day. Total cost £90. It was only when I wanted to claim this (and they knew that I had young children when I started) that they said they couldn't afford to cover childcare - oh and I can, can I? I was livid about it and, given that I work for a charity which continually bangs the equality drum, can't understand why they can't see they are discriminating against people with childcare responsibilities. I don't claim childcare every time I work (2 days a week), nor for the occasional one day course (as I can usually get a friend to cover then), but the 5 day course was compulsory and I was forced to employ a childminder.

that's shocking, Freckle and is discriminatory, isn't it? I know charities haven't got loads of funds but as you say, they knew you were a mum of 3 and allowed you to incur a cost which they weren't willing to repay. Exploitation, imo!

agree, that's awful freckle. I have a small team of volunteers and I would certainly pay a claim for childcare. It's my responsibility to make sure things can't be done any other way, eg I had a volunteer who wanted to cover a certain appointment which was 2 - 4pm, thus incurring childcare costs. Instead of that we changed the appt to the middle of the day. However if it's a course which by it's nature means you have to be there after school hours I would absolutely support the volunteer to make a childcare costs claim and I'd fight for them to get it!

unfortunately there really is discrimination in the workplace in so many subtle ways for all those who have childcare responsibilities, not just volunteers. Though it's especially bad to do it if you are accepting people's labour for nothing!

I have done lots of voluntary work and never had childcare paid for.

Tis is an interesting thread!
I'm just going back to doing voluntuary gardening for the elderly and they have advised me that this year they will charge the clients £8!!! an hour for my UNPAID work.
I'll get mileage of course but they won't pay childcare, not even half!
Makes me think that i may be better off doing the gardening off my own back and give the elderly a discount and still be able to pay my childcare!
No wonder they can't find anyone.

that's ridiculous RB and how cheeky of them!
Twinset- doesn't that situation annoy you? I can afford to be slighly out-of-pocket, but with 2 children (1 still pre-school age) I am not willing to pay the full £7-£10 an hour in childcare to do voluntary work without some kind of recompense. Partly on principle.