Living in the woods - volunteers needed to help with winter work

[waterbird]

Volunteers needed to help manage our 27acre woodland on a 45 acre farm. (December 2014 to March 2015+)

 

Most work will be to help with extracting, felling, & planting trees. Plus some firewood chopping, milling timber, and various bits of work around the farm (chicken feeding, general maintenance etc.)

 

Accommodation is in a caravan out on the land (2 caravans available), self-catering on a WWOOF basis (willing worker on organic farms) which means you volunteer and get a small contribution towards food. There is also a solar-shower, outdoor cooking space, sauna / lake & lots of gorgeous woodland - but it is 'out-there' and means being reliant on a fire for heat, and a spring for your water.

 

Send me a pm or email if interested or you know someone who might fancy a month or two helping out in the woods in South Devon.

 

All the best

Doug

[silky fox]

A few months ago I would have been down in a heartbeat! What a great sounding project! Best of luck with that ..im sure you will get a good response . .keep us posted please....

[woody3]

you need to pay NMW under the law

[skyhuck]

you need to pay NMW under the law

 

Really?????? To a "volunteer"??? How do charity shops get round that???

[arboriculturist]

you need to pay NMW under the law

 

National Minimum Wage does not apply to a volunteer doing voluntary work.

Volunteers are not entitled to the national minimum wage as they don't get paid other than travel or lunch expenses and therefore will not be classed as a worker.

Volunteers do not have a contract of employment but often have a volunteering agreement.

[woody3]

Really?????? To a "volunteer"??? How do charity shops get round that???

 

 

charity's are exempt

[woody3]

National Minimum Wage does not apply to a volunteer doing voluntary work.

Volunteers are not entitled to the national minimum wage as they don't get paid other than travel or lunch expenses and therefore will not be classed as a worker.

Volunteers do not have a contract of employment but often have a volunteering agreement.

 

any payment gives you a contract of employment and NMW is payable, same with benefit in kind (housing etc)

 

recent case law backs this up

[ukminch]

any payment gives you a contract of employment and NMW is payable, same with benefit in kind (housing etc)

 

recent case law backs this up

 

Can you give details of these recent cases?

[bobh]

So what you're saying is that the concept of voluntary work has been made illegal by the minimum wage law if the volunteer receives any type of benefit. If this is correct then I'm very surprised we haven't heard a lot more about it from a great many organisations.

Back to the o/p, I hope you find the right person for the job, sounds ideal for the right candidate. Where about in Devon is it?

[Coximus]

The whole Woofing thing sounds horribly like exploitation to me... landowner wants work doing for free - "volunteers" do the work voluntarially, land owner takes the gains....

 

Quick conflab (informal and non binding) with solicitor friend, exact words "A court case would put paid to that, in short order too, unless the land owner allows full public access and is a reg charity its hard to see how it could get away without NWM, furthermore if the land owner derives any financial gain from it it wouldnt stand up at all."

"think, how would people and the law look on if you asked for volunteers to plough your fields, harvest your crops and drive your van for a small allowance.... youd be draged to hell and back"

 

 

This sort of thing exploits the well meaning UNLESS its a charity and not a private farm and private nature reserve. If its public I appologise, if its private, how is it fair you as a land owner get people to work for free to your gain?