This information is potentially of interest to any RA member who volunteers. Please circulate as widely as possible amongst your Area and Group colleagues. This letter and the attached model letter are available to everyone at a new section of the RA website:
www.ramblers.org.uk/volunteer/resources.html
No password required! 1. The concern: · Do you regularly drive to attend your Group or Area meetings or to attend public enquiries? · Are you a walks leader who regularly uses your car to get to walk starting points? · Do you regularly undertake footpath clearance or surveying work for the RA and use your car to get around? If you use your car to do voluntary work for the RA your insurance company may need to know! 2. The Background: Motor insurance companies take differing views of volunteering. Some consider volunteering to be a social activity and hobby and are therefore happy to include volunteering under their category of “Social Use”. Other companies, however, view volunteering as a work activity and therefore classify car usage for volunteering as “Business Use”. There is no one industry standard and no fixed point at which companies draw the line between volunteering as a hobby and volunteering as work. One of the factors that appears to come into play, however, is where mileage allowances are paid to volunteers as re-imbursement of travel costs. This may appear to give insurers the appearance of increased formality and therefore “work”. Insurance companies should not charge any additional premium to customers who “upgrade” to business use. However, being insured under the wrong category can give an insurance company the opportunity to argue its way out of paying out in case of a claim. 3. Our Suggestion: RA central office can not offer specific advice to any individual volunteer We recommend that, if in doubt, all RA volunteers call their respective motor insurance companies to let them know the extent and nature of their voluntary work and to discuss and clarify the details of their insurance policy. If necessary, we then recommend that volunteers subsequently send very brief details to their insurance company in writing and request confirmation of cover in writing. A suggested form of words is attached and can also be downloaded from the website at:
www.ramblers.org.uk/volunteer/resources.html My name My Street My town My postcode My insurance company name My insurance company address My insurance company address Today’s date. Re: Motor Insurance: My Policy Number Dear Sir/ Madam, I intend to undertake voluntary work for the charity the Ramblers’ Association. I may, from time to time, use my vehicle to travel to meetings, to carry passengers or to carry out other duties as requested. Where I receive a mileage allowance for these journeys it will be to cover running costs of my vehicle in accordance with Section 1(4) of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act (1981), which exempts me from both Passenger Service Vehicle and Hackney Carriage / Private Hire Car licensing laws. I should be grateful if you would confirm my existing policy covers me for such volunteer driving and attach a tear-off slip below. Please also confirm that my insurance policy contains a clause indemnifying the agencies with which I am a volunteer against third party claims arising out of the use of my vehicle for such voluntary work. Yours faithfully ............................................................................................................................................... From (Insurance Company).............................................................................. Re (Policy Number)........................................................................................... Policy Holder/ Driver......................................................................................... | 
