“Exploitation, taking advantage of peoples good nature.”

“Shaddix I have worked in Charity Shops and I know that what you say is true. I have seen others perfectly able to do the job for free but as soon as it is a paid job it goes to a friend or family member of the charity bosses.”

“Volunteering shows commitment and is a very good tool to use on your C.V. when seeking work. It adds to your skills, demonstrates motivation and commitment, and offers a sense of purpose, which in turn awards you self-esteem and a drive to keep on battling for paid employment. Looking for paid work when there are so many applicants per job can be de-motivating, demeaning, demoralising and lead a person to depression in some cases.

Hull CVS have honoured this young man's commitment by employing him, knowing that he is there to do a good job because they have trained and monitored his progression and know, from his commitment, that he is not there just to get through the days until pay day. I cannot applaud this young man and the Hull CVS enough as this is a happy ending all round. As Mr Tom Grealy says Hull CVS have initiated a vetting system for companies who offer voluntary placements. This also shows a duty of care to their clients.

If companies exploit the use of voluntary workers they should be identified, penalised and regulated and not allowed to use volunteers, rather than using Hull CVS as an example. In my experience the Hull CVS (Community Voluntary Service) has helped many, many people over the years. I worked (voluntarily) with them many years ago helping disadvantaged children. I later pursued a career in this line of work. They should be allowed to continue to do their good work without this sort of criticism.

Congratulations to Mark Barton for using his time effectively!”

“@FreeWilly....

"But surely it is better to be doing something, that may give you new skills or even meet contacts"

You might have a point in some cases but it depends very much on the job in question.

There can be no justification for forcing people in to doing six months or a year of 'work placement' working behind the till or stacking shelves in a shop . Without wishing to denigrate the fine and essential work that shop workers do it just doesn't take that long to learn the job. I've been a 'jack of all trades master of some' all my working life and half of the jobs I've had have taken one day of training or less. Maybe it's just me but I seem to remember that not long ago you could just bull**it your way in to a job and just hope you could bluff your way through the first few days and hope nobody noticed you didn't have a clue what you were doing.

There's a whole private industry getting rich by providing low cost training for jobs that don't really need any training at all including a4e who's record was described yesterday by the public account committee as 'abysmal'

http://tinyurl.com/6shcpe6”

“I personally think the unions should back off on this one, it is clear from the stats that young people are actually getting out there and doing something instead of watching TV all day, good on them I say!
If more people realised that if you show willing there is a considerably better chance of attaining proper paid work.
I for one always offered my services for free when I was between paid jobs, I had a very interesting time, made lots of friends and gained a massive amount of experience that I still call upon today.
I also always offered employers a free week of my time to prove my abilities. Its win win, I always got myself a job because of it!”

“Nishy2012, "I've done schemes on benefits and how are you supposed to pay for meals etc or do they expect you to starve whilst doing this free work". Do I take it that you don't usually eat then, when not involved in one of these schemes?”

“It appears some people are mistaking the difference between work trials and the old Youth Training Schemes for volunteering. As previously posted if run properly volunteers would compliment the work of paid workers not take their jobs.”

“you only have to look at the councils waste management service,last year,job losses,this year people working for nothing except bus fares.This is nothing new at waste management,it went on for years under the new deal,6 months training with promise of job at the end,the thing was jobs never really materialised.Also,i might be wrong but is it true if your on benefits and refuse to work for no pay you lose your benefits?”

“Getting people to work for nothing is just one step up from the reintroduction of the workhouse, I've done schemes on benefits and how are you supposed to pay for meals etc or do they expect you to starve whilst doing this free work”

“If organisations had properly set up volunteer programmes the unions should not have any problems. Volunteering should be used to compliment the work of paid staff members and not used to replace paid workers and any project worth its salt will abide by the laws set out for volunteer involvement. I am a volunteer manager for a local charity and before this job i drove HGV's for 48 hours per week and volunteered every Saturday in Grimsby for 2 Years. The reason i had to take this route was because to retrain for another career i would have had to leave my full time job with no assistance to help pay the mortgage etc. Volunterring should never be under estimated however what i will ask any potential volunteers to consider, is the organisation adequatly set up for volunteer involvement ie are expenses paid? will the volunteer be offered supervision and guidance in order to develop their skills? If your unsure that the volunteer position is fit for purpose visit the volunteering England Website or easier still contact Hull CVS. The biggest problem is Mr Cameron who believes that we all should be doing our bit "big society" however he under estimates the actual costs for running such projects”