The charity shop has closed. The customers have left. The giggling volunteers finally head off home, as the key locks. But the shop manager is still inside, because she has taken the day’s takings upstairs and needs to complete some paperwork and do the final checks of the building before setting the alarm. From the street, the shop looks closed and empty. The trustees of this charity may not even realise that, for the final 30 minutes of every working day, this staff member is completely alone. This is one of the many lone working examples in charities.
Trustees’ Week. Are Your Charity’s Lone Workers Being Protected?
During Trustees’ Week, from 9 to 13 November 2026, we celebrate the people who give their time, knowledge and experience to guide UK charities. What a brilliant job that they do! But good trusteeship is not just about funding, budgets and policies. It is also about protecting the employees and volunteers who help keep that charity running.
Many charities look busy, well-connected environments. But if we look more closely, the moments of lone working in charities soon become apparent:
- A charity shop manager opening before volunteers arrive = A lone worker
- A therapist visiting a client’s home = A lone worker
- A fundraiser carrying cash to the bank = A lone worker
- An employee working in the storeroom away from colleagues = A lone worker
None of these people necessarily thinks of themselves as a lone worker. Their trustees may not think of them that way either. But if they cannot be seen or heard by another person who could respond quickly, they are working alone.
The Charity Shop Has Closed, but Her Working Day Has Not
Back to Sally, our shop manager. She has finished counting the cash upstairs and placed it in the safe. She is halfway through the final paperwork when she hears somebody trying the locked front door downstairs. At first, she assumes it is a customer who has not noticed the closed sign. Then the handle moves again. More firmly this time.
Sally stands still and listens. She cannot see the entrance from the upstairs office. But she can hear the force of the door being kicked. In a panic, she remembers that her mobile phone is downstairs beside the till, and she is scared.
After another few seconds, the thumping stops. Laughter hits her ears. Then silence. Whoever was outside has gone.
She races downstairs, collects her phone and goes home. By the following morning, the moment already feels too small to mention. She doesn’t want to make a fuss because the charity has more pressing matters to deal with.
So, the trustees never hear about it. Nor do they hear about all the other occasions of lone working in their charity.
Could Your Trustees Be Overlooking Staff Welfare
Charities often work under enormous pressure. Budgets are tight, demand is high, and every available pound is expected to support the cause. Employees and volunteers may be reluctant to raise concerns, just like Sally. They worry about appearing difficult, creating more expense or taking money away from the people the charity exists to help.
The Health and Safety Executive mentions that organisations with at least one employee must include volunteers, as well as employees, when identifying significant workplace risks. Volunteers carrying out similar work and facing similar risks should receive the same level of protection. This does not mean trustees must personally supervise every shift, appointment or community visit. It does mean they should understand how the charity operates in practice, including when and where people work alone. A policy sitting in a folder cannot protect Sally if nobody has noticed that she is regularly left in the building alone.
The charity shop manager may face risks connected with cash, late closing and dealing with members of the public.
A therapist entering somebody’s home may face an unfamiliar environment, aggressive behaviour, an uncontrolled animal or a sudden medical emergency affecting either themselves or the person they are visiting.
A fundraiser taking cash to the bank may be following the same route at the same time each week while carrying money belonging to the charity.
A staff member working alone in a storeroom could fall, become trapped or suffer a medical problem without being heard by colleagues on the shop floor.
These are not far-fetched disaster scenarios. They are ordinary working arrangements found in charities across the UK. The danger lies in allowing ordinary to become automatically accepted as safe.
What Should Trustees Be Asking?
Trustees cannot oversee a risk they do not know exists. Trustees’ Week provides a useful opportunity to ask some direct questions:
- Are employees or volunteers ever alone inside charity premises?
- Who visits service users in their homes?
- Does anyone work in a separate room, storeroom or part of the building alone?
- What’s the procedure if someone feels unsafe?
- Who would notice if an employee or volunteer failed to finish, return or check in?
- What happens next if they cannot be contacted?
The answers should come from the people doing the work, not only from rotas and written policies. Sally’s paperwork may show that her shift ends at 4pm. Only Sally can explain that cashing up and locking the building usually keep her there until 4.30pm.
Protection Should Not Depend on Remembering a Text
Many charities rely on informal arrangements. A worker messages a colleague after an appointment or calls somebody when they are ready to leave. That may work until the colleague is busy, the worker forgets or the expected message never arrives. Without a clear escalation process, everybody may assume somebody else has checked.
An effective lone-worker procedure should at the very least include:
- When a worker must check in
- Who receives and monitors that check-in
- What happens if it is missed
- How the worker can quickly raise an alarm
The system should be simple to use.
Protecting the People Behind the Mission
Across the UK, trustees give their time and experience to causes they genuinely care about. They help charities survive, develop and continue supporting the people who need them. Good trusteeship also means looking beyond board reports and ask what working life feels like for the people delivering that support.
Sally should not have to wait for somebody to force the door before her lone working is taken seriously. An outreach worker should not have to experience aggression before a reliable check-in process is introduced. A volunteer should not receive less protection simply because they are giving their time freely.
A Trustee’s responsibility begins with noticing when their staff and volunteers are alone.
MyTeamSafe® an award-winning lone-worker App and works with charities. Also a proud supporter of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Contact us today about our FREE trial blog@myteamsafe.com