Coronavirus (COVID-19) volunteering
If you want to volunteer during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, you can do this:
- from home, for example by working on a telephone support helpline
- outside your home, for example by delivering food and medicine
- in a workplace, for example an office
You need to follow the Local COVID Alert Level rules in the area. But while you are volunteering you can:
- meet in groups of any size from different households, indoors or outdoors
- travel within and between different Local COVID Alert Level areas
Volunteering from home
Anyone can volunteer from home. This is the safest way to protect yourself and others during the winter.
Volunteering outside your home
You can volunteer outside your home if:
- you cannot volunteer from home
- you follow the social distancing guidance
- no one in your household has symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- no one in your household has tested positive for coronavirus
If you are volunteering in a workplace, it should meet coronavirus safety standards.
If you’re clinically extremely vulnerable
If you are clinically extremely vulnerable, you should volunteer from home wherever possible.
If you do decide to volunteer outside your home, make sure that:
- the volunteering organisation does a risk assessment
- you can work in a separate area away from other people
If you have coronavirus symptoms
Do not volunteer outside your home if you have coronavirus symptoms or if you have tested positive for coronavirus.
You must self-isolate for at least 10 days from the date you started having symptoms or from the day you tested positive – whichever is the latest.
If you are self-isolating:
- you cannot leave home (or the place where you are self-isolating) to volunteer
- your volunteer organisation should not ask you to leave home (or the place where you are self-isolating)
Wearing face coverings while volunteering
You must wear a face covering by law in some public places unless you have a reasonable excuse for not wearing one. For example, if you have an illness, impairment or a disability.
Staff and volunteers in retail, hospitality and leisure settings must also wear a face covering.
You should also wear a face covering indoors if you will be in:
- an enclosed public space
- a place where you cannot stay 1 metre apart from other people
- a place where you will come into contact with people you do not usually meet
