Volunteers should always take expenses if offered

Haarlem

and if they don't want the expenses they should donate them back to the charity, and complete a Gift Aid form.

HMRC are happy if the money is given over, and donated back and is two separate transactions.

suited-aces

Funny enough, I went through the same logic in my head between clicking the thread and reading op. Nice one!

Errata

Charities need to know what volunteer expenses are over a year to make an accurate financial forecast of running costs. The only way they can do this is for volunteers to claim their expenses. What they do with them is their choice, but no volunteer should be made to feel they need to donate back ' because everyone else does'