Volunteering FAQs

Find answers to your questions about volunteering below, or get in contact with the Volunteering Team and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can:

See our current opportunities to apply. If you don’t see anything on our website in your local area, send us your details including where you are located and which kind of volunteering you would like to do with us, and we’ll forward it to the local team.

Yes — as well as supporting people affected by crime, our volunteers also carry out work supporting our teams with administration, community engagement events. Or if you’ve been a victim of crime yourself you could share your story to raise awareness or become part of a group to influence change. Find out more about our range of volunteer roles.

If you’re a student we’d love to hear from you, and may have roles that would fit well around your studies. We do ask that you consider how long you are able to commit for if you’re applying for one of our community support roles, due to the financial investment we make in our training.

We offer many services to clients including emotional support. In some areas we do offer a counselling service but this is not currently across all of England and Wales. Therefore only in certain situations are we able to offer counselling placements or support counselling hours towards a particular course. Please contact volunteering@victimsupport.org.uk to enquire.

Due to the nature of our work and extensive training needed, we are unable to offer work experience placements to under 18s.

Volunteers who work in roles directly supporting people will complete comprehensive training through a mix of workshops, eLearning and one-to-one discussions. This may also involve a training course at one of our local offices or another suitable location.

Once you’ve completed your basic training and gained experience in your role, there may be more specialist training opportunities available in your area.

For other volunteering opportunities, your manager will organise all the training and support you need for your specific role. The majority of our volunteers also have access to our eLearning platform, which has a wide range of resources to help you develop skills to deliver your role.

We have flexible volunteering roles available to suit everyone’s different circumstances.

Take a look at our various available roles and the expected commitment to find something that works for you.

No. We ask whether you can drive on our application form as a number of our volunteer roles may require you to carry out visits to areas not well served by public transport. Knowing if you can drive helps us to plan which clients you may be able to visit.

However, if you don’t drive or don’t have access to a car please don’t let that put you off applying!

In some circumstances, other volunteering opportunities, as worthwhile as they are, may represent a conflict of interest when working with victims of crime.

This would include roles where you may be working with perpetrators of crime in the same geography as those who may have been affected by their actions. We’d ask that you share this information on your application so we can discuss this with you and establish how we may be able to progress your application in a different role should a conflict of interest arise.

It is important that Victim Support confirms the identity and legal residency status (Right to Work/Volunteer in the UK) of ALL those that provide volunteering support to us.

If you’re considering a support role with us, think carefully about how you want to be involved, why you want to volunteer with Victim Support in particular and whether you can meet the time commitment.

See our current opportunities to apply for a role online.

If your application is successful, you’ll be invited to an interview either on the phone, at your local Victim Support office or at another suitable location on a one-to-one or group basis. Depending on the role you’ve applied for, you can either start your volunteering journey once your reference checks have been completed, or you may also need to undergo a DBS check. During this time, your manager will be able to answer any questions you have about volunteering with Victim Support.

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Our commitment to volunteers

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