Volunteering Whilst On IS

William29

Hi,

Does anybody have a list of things which can be recorded as expenses when volunteering on benefits?

e.g.

Travel Costs
Uniform Costs
Laundry Costs
Other Equipment Costs
Equipment Maintainence Costs
Boots Allowance
Computer Allowance
Postage Costs
Electric, Phone, and Broadband Costs

etc etc

Cheers.

sjaypink

William29 wrote: »

Hi,

Does anybody have a list of things which can be recorded as expenses when volunteering on benefits?

e.g.

Travel Costs
Uniform Costs
Laundry Costs
Other Equipment Costs
Equipment Maintainence Costs
Boots Allowance
Computer Allowance
Postage Costs
Electric, Phone, and Broadband Costs

etc etc

Cheers.

have you found a volunteer placement which will reimburse you for all these costs then?

i have never come across an agency that will pay anything more than mileage allowance, sometimes lunch costs if working a full day......

the volunteer england website has some good info.

tbh though i cant see the benefits agency being too happy by you receiving, what i assume would be, significant amounts of money.
i would imagine in the very least they would want to speak to the person paying you to ensure all of this is absolutely necessary to your voluntary post.

donnalove

William29 wrote: »

Hi,

Does anybody have a list of things which can be recorded as expenses when volunteering on benefits?

e.g.

Travel Costs
Uniform Costs
Laundry Costs
Other Equipment Costs
Equipment Maintainence Costs
Boots Allowance
Computer Allowance
Postage Costs
Electric, Phone, and Broadband Costs

etc etc

Cheers.

depends on wot kind of volunteering you are doing.
i do driving and just get 40p mile for first 10,000 then 25p thereafter, we get nothing else for mobile phones(which we need for contact).This is supposed to compensate us for wear and tear on vehicle depriciation and repairs plus petrol back we have already put in.

in being a volunteer you cannot recieve more then your actual cost and there isn't usual a list that you can claim for. So if the only costs you incurr are your travelling expenses this is all you will recieve back.

William29

I'm thinking of Refereeing football, and the pay is between £15 to £25 per match, but I've been told by The FA that its completely untaxable until you get to the dizzy heights of the Football League and Premiership because:

> You pay for your own vehicle, your own petrol and all other transport costs to games and back.
> You have to buy your own football boots, and obviously, there are some nice expensive boots available to help you position yourself better.
> You have to buy your own black referees shirt (£25-40) and another spare one in short sleeve for the summer (an extra £25-40), and two pairs of black referees shorts (£10-25 a pair), and several pairs of referees socks (£7 a pair).
> You also have to buy a whistle (Fox 40 = £5.00), plus several spares. Several notebooks with red and yellow cards and tons of pencils.
> Sock ties, laces, gels, creams, lotions, soaps etc.
> Towels, boot bag, huge good quality holdall, umbrella, thick padded coat, thin rain jacket, wooly hat etc.
> Full suit including shirt & tie and smart pair of shoes (£150+)
> Several watches and spares (£80+)
> Flags (ranging from £15 to £510) and spares!
> Pumps, gauges, etc.
> Telephone calls to leagues, clubs, The FA etc.
> Postage costs for match reports as well as printing costs and stationary cost.
> Internet and computer usage for emailing league documents and maintain referee websites.
> Additional costs for attending Referee Union meeting every month.

And there is a LOT more I could go on to list.

Obviously, you might do 15 matches a season at £25, earning £375 a season. Kits and boots generally last for 2 or 3 seasons if you take care of them. So you should just about break even.

Obviously its unusual type of volunteering, but even the Governments CRB place acknowledge we take no taxable income from the game and they therefore give us free CRB checks.

How hard will it be to convince the JobCentre that £25 for 90 minutes is actually not a profit, but covering expensive costs?

Cheers.

DaisyFlower

Sorry but I have to pay petrol to get to work, I have to buy clothes suitable for my job, I have to attend meetings- you're not volunteering - what you are doing is working for a couple of hours and getting paid.

The income will need to be declared to the job centre but when you find full time work it wont matter anyway. Sales might suit you :rotfl:

sjaypink

no that is not volunteering- but as above, nice try! :rotfl:

for the jobcentre to see work as voluntary, you would only be receiving a mileage cost if you have a car, or refund for a bus ticket etc.
if it were truly voluntary, for any other costs you would only be allowed to be reimbursed for the exact amount of essential purchases you would otherwise not have to have bought. you would need receipts to evidence this.

regardless of the amount you have to pay out to start the fact they are paying you a fixed fee per match means it is definately not voluntary, and as far as i can see you are not going to convince the jc otherwise.

dont know if you know, you can keep the first £20 earned each week before your i.s. is effected. so you should 'pay off' your initial outlay through this extra money soon enough.

good luck with it, sounds fun x

donnalove

This wouldn't be classed as volunteering,If you were volunteering you would claim the cost back as said above sounds like you need to register as self-employed.

sjaypink

dmg24 wrote: »

Could I ask why you are on IS William29? Are the Jobcentre aware that you wish to start refereeing?

from previous threads i believe its because he is 16 and is in full time education (living alone)

sjaypink

dmg24 wrote: »

Could I ask why you are on IS William29? Would it not be a better idea to get a more profitable job?

eh what happened there? :rotfl:

dmg24

sjaypink wrote: »

from previous threads i believe its because he is 16 and is in full time education (living alone)

Understand.

Would it not be a better idea to get a more profitable job?

dmg24

sjaypink wrote: »

eh what happened there? :rotfl:

Edited my post! x