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How the Staff Volunteering Scheme works                                    

Volunteering benefits the local community, the University and you! Initially staff volunteering activities will be focussed on a range of external organisations whose work impacts on both the communities immediately adjacent to the University campus and the Birmingham area in general. 

Volunteering leave

As part of it's commitment to community engagement, the University has agreed that staff who are registered with the Staff Volunteering Scheme are eligible for (subject to line manager's approval):

  • - two working days (15 hours) paid time off each year, to undertake approved volunteering work.

  • - the option to continue to volunteer beyond these two days, using your own annual leave or flexi-time. If you do this, the University will match this hour for hour up to two more days.

  • In short, for 6 days (45 hours) of volunteering you only need contribute 15 hours of your own leave or flexi-time.

Aston volunteers

Who we work with

We're currently working with six external organisations whose work impacts on communities local to Aston University and the Birmingham area in general.

Education – e.g. Volunteering Reading Help, STEM Ambassadors, Safeside
Disabililty - e.g. Dyslexia Association Birmingham
Social inclusion - e.g. SIFA Fireside
Environment – e.g. Community Service Volunteers (CSV)

Please take a look at the Ongoing Opportunities section for further details.

These opportunities have all been assessed as meeting the required standards set out in the Volunteering Policy and Volunteering Charter.  At present, we can only support these six organisations and their activities, although our partnership with CSV does enable volunteering at a variety of locations.  These existing supported activities provide a range of volunteering opportunities which lend themselves to a variety of abilities and interests, whilst ensuring that any potential risks to staff are minimised.   

Conservation work