We want volunteering at Back on Track to be a positive and rewarding experience that provides opportunity for personal development and progression. We provide:

Induction
Volunteers complete an induction session in order to learn more about our organisation, get to know different colleagues, learn about their volunteering role and become familiar with our policies and procedures.  All volunteers are assigned a staff member to supervise their role.

Training and opportunities
We are keen to support learning and development through your voluntary work.  Volunteers receive role specific training as part of induction, we also run in-house training and share other local opportunities with you. We run refresher training at regular intervals to recap and share any important updates.

To enable our volunteers to gain a broad experience, there are sometimes opportunities to move into different voluntary roles with us.

Employability support
Some people who volunteer at Back on Track are working towards longer term goals such as further education or employment.  If you would like to discuss your goals and explore options, our progression team can offer 1-1 information, advice and guidance.

All volunteers at Back on Track are eligible to claim travel expenses to and from the place of volunteering. We can only reimburse the actual cost of travel – we are not able to make a payment which is rounded up or rounded down.

Public transport
You can claim the cost of public transport to and from the centre up to £8 per day. If you have a weekly or monthly ticket, we can reimburse you for a proportion of the ticket relevant to your volunteering attendance.

Travelling by car
If you are travelling to and from the centre in your own car, we can reimburse the cost of your parking and the cost of mileage at the rate of 40p per mile (up to 10 miles) up to £8 per day in total.

Refreshments

Volunteers are welcome to use the café during opening hours and can have tea or coffee free of charge.  Volunteers attending for a full day will receive a voucher can be exchanged for a soup and roll at lunchtime. We also have a staff and volunteer kitchen area with kettle, toaster, microwave, fridge and a quiet seating area.

Attendance and timekeeping

We expect you to be on time for your volunteering shifts and to let your supervisor know if you are unable to attend. Please give as much notice as possible if you are unable to come in so we can make other arrangements.

Behaviour and boundaries

Back on Track sees people as individuals and treats all learners, staff and volunteers with respect. Some of the people who come to Back on Track may have complex needs so we need to take extra considerations to make sure that everyone is safe. This includes:

• Be friendly and non-judgmental and avoid having any preconceptions about learners
• Treat any information a learner has given you with respect. You might need to talk to a staff member about what they have shared but it should never be talked about with other volunteers or outside Back on Track
• Be aware of the difference between being friendly and being friends. Volunteers work with learners in a professional capacity and should be aware of professional boundaries
• Back on Track staff, volunteers and learners are expected to value and encourage diversity in all aspects of the service

Volunteers are in a responsible role at Back on Track and are expected to follow our organisational policies and procedures.

We welcome applications from people with lived experience of the issues that affect our learners such as homelessness, problems with drugs or alcohol, mental health or offending.

If you are disabled, every effort will be made to supply the necessary aids, adaptations or equipment to enable you to carry out the duties of the role.

We operate Fair Chance Recruitment practices.  Following your meeting with a staff member, if we intend to offer you a volunteer placement, we will ask you to disclose unspent convictions. The information disclosed will be considered by a panel of Back on Track managers who will decide whether we can offer you the role.

Some roles are subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (this will be clear in the role description). We cannot offer a volunteering placement in those roles to someone who is barred from working with vulnerable adults. If it applies to your role, we will ask you to disclose past convictions (including spent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings).