Confidentiality Agreement for Volunteers

Therapist/patient confidentiality Sharing confidential information about a client with a family member or friend.Leaving your computer containing confidential information open to others. Continuing to work with a client when there's a conflict of interests (for example, they know one of your family members or friends)

Use a standard format for contracts. Decide what type of confidentiality statement you should use. Identify the involved parties in the agreement. Define the information to keep confidential. List the information excluded from the agreement.

The agreement does not necessarily have to be signed and may be in the form of a letter from the organisation to the individual volunteer but a signature in itself, in the absence of other indications of a legally binding arrangement, is unlikely to create a legally binding agreement.

Confidentiality agreements usually allow the recipient to disclose confidential information if required to do so by court order or other legal process.

Information should only be disclosed to others when authorised by senior management. Confidential information should not be used for personal profit or benefit. Confidential information must not be replicated and stored on insecure devices.

To work in a healthy and safe environment. To be interviewed and engaged in accordance with equal opportunity and anti-discrimination legislation. To be adequately covered by insurance. To receive information about the organisation, policies and procedures.

Volunteer agreements can be used to set out both an organisation's commitment to its volunteers and what it hopes for from its volunteers. They act as a reference point for volunteers and a reminder to the organisation that it should meet the standards of good practice that it has set.

The volunteer agreement is not compulsory, but sets out what you can expect from the organisation you're volunteering for. It does not form a contract between you and the organisation. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has information on volunteers' legal status.

A volunteer agreement makes it clear what the volunteer can expect from the organisation and what, in turn, the organisation expects from the volunteer. It usually sits alongside a role description and volunteer policy. Whilst it sets out expectations an agreement is not a legally binding contract.