It can be difficult to find opportunities for young people under 18 owing to the nature of the roles and the experience and skills needed to carry these out. Organisations are also sometimes concerned about the level of supervision a younger person might need and there are often personal safety issues as well as health and safety and insurance concerns.
For these reasons, most volunteering for under 18s takes place in the school or college environment. But outside of this, you could try the following:
- Take a look at our Volunteer Now page to identify possible organisations to approach about volunteering. They may only be advertising roles for over 18s, but there may be something else you could do for them.
- Take a look at the vInspired website to see if there are any opportunities listed in your area. vInspired is the UK’s leading youth volunteering charity providing 14-25 year olds with volunteering and social action opportunities.
- Identify groups in your area that are already established to provide services or run activities for young people – e.g. your local Scout Association groups, Girlguiding UK groups (including Brownies), youth clubs, sea cadets, youth amateur dramatics groups, young people’s sports groups. Make contact to see if they involve under 18s as volunteers.
We’re the difference.
We volunteer.
Find an opportunity that’s right for you and be the difference in your community.
