These Terms of Reference enable SCTs to: 

• understand the various volunteer roles within the SCT structure and apply the most appropriate structure to meet local need.
• ensure that SCTs are underpinned by the SSAFA’s vision, mission and values.
• provide local financial support through grant giving activities.
• offer additional support to meet local need, such as community connection events to alleviate loneliness and isolation or a loan store to help people borrow equipment for their homes.
• empower SCTs to work closely with SSAFA’s staff in the Serving Community Support Team, regional volunteers and other employee teams.
• encourage succession planning of volunteer roles and support the development of volunteer skills.

The Serving Community Support Team is here to help serving community volunteers and will ensure that volunteers:

• feel welcome and able to be themselves at SSAFA.
• feel appropriately supported.
• have a named point of contact.
• have opportunities to give and get feedback on their role.
• have access to ongoing personal development opportunities.
• have a positive experience and enjoy their volunteering.
• feel like they belong.
• behave in accordance with SSAFA’s BRAVE standards.
• are clear about the value of volunteering and why SSAFA involves volunteers.
• volunteer managers are trained to effectively support the volunteers they manage.

Serving Community Teams operate under SSAFA’s Royal Charter of Incorporation and Rules 2014 and SSAFA’s Regulations.

To ensure the SCT adheres to the SSAFA Royal Charter, charity law, data protection legislation and safeguarding best practice, there must be measures in place to ensure appropriate governance. 

• All new volunteers must apply via SSAFA’s website and be registered within SSAFA’s volunteer database. Volunteers must remain compliant with SSAFA’s expectations of training and vetting and act within SSAFA’s policies, values and BRAVE standards. Volunteers will ensure they follow the Volunteer Code of Conduct.
• The SCT must remain mindful of their obligations as custodians of personal and sensitive data including that of volunteers, beneficiaries, supporters and staff. Such data must be collected, stored and shared in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
• All UK SCTs should sign up for single banking for their account, which can be arranged through SSAFA’s finance team. For overseas SCTs, advice will be given depending on locality and in agreement with SSAFA finance team and Serving Community Support Team.
• All cheques should have two signatories.
• For events with a financial requirement of the SCT, the Chair or Finance Coordinator must be made aware of and approve any payment in advance.
• Grant Giving Guidance for Serving Community Teams must be followed when considering any grant request.
• Community Volunteering Processes must be adhered to if a Community Volunteer support is provided locally.
• Once a year, all Serving Community Teams will be asked for a financial return to capture financial activities from the SCT throughout the year to report back to SSAFA’s finance team. All SCT Chairs and Finance Coordinators will receive information on how to complete the financial return. Returns are usually due by mid-February.
• An Annual Activity Return is also sent out via MS Forms to capture the events, activities, fundraising and grant giving that the SCT volunteers have undertaken during the year. The information from both these returns feeds into SSAFA’s Annual Report.

The reach of the SCT is defined in agreement with the SSAFA employees in the Serving Community Support Team by considering location, the number of SSAFA volunteers, the military units, other welfare providers and the need for SSAFA’s support in each area.

The key objectives for the SCT are to:

• maintain a team of volunteers with a range of skills to enable the SCT objectives to be met, ensuring all volunteers remain in date with mandatory training and vetting.
• promote wider understanding and awareness of SSAFA within the local serving community and wider public.
• provide community events and fundraising opportunities to raise SCT funds.
• award community and individual grants on a case-by-case basis from SCT funds.
• run an optional SSAFA Community Volunteering Service to provide emotional and practical support to serving personnel and their families.
• provide signposting to other SSAFA departments or welfare services.
• collaborate with the chain of command, welfare services, other agencies and charities to promote the wellbeing of all those in the Armed Forces community.
• complete impact and evaluation reporting and submit in a timely manner to the Serving Community Support Team.
• ensure that all activities meet relevant legislative requirements e.g. fundraising, data protection, GDPR, risk assessments.

The following volunteer roles make up the SCT – see the SCT Service Breakdown for further information

Any roles in dark blue are considered core roles and are essential to the successful running of the SCT.

Roles in red are optional and may be included in the SCT based on a variety of factors including size of the local community, size of the SCT or other filled volunteer roles, for example.

All roles can have more than one person undertaking them and tasks can be divided in the way the SCT deems most appropriate based on factors including workload, volunteer skills and local need.

The running of a Community Volunteering Service is optional; not every SCT will feel emotional and practical support is needed within their community. But where it is offered the SCT must ensure processes are followed and that the training and vetting requirements outlined by the Serving Community Support Team are followed.

All SCT volunteers must have applied for their role via SSAFA’s recruitment portal and have completed the necessary recruitment, induction and training before beginning their role. Each volunteer role has its own induction and training plan.

In accordance with SSAFA’s values and BRAVE standards, all volunteers must be mindful of their role as SSAFA ambassadors. All members of the public are potential clients, volunteers and supporters.

The SCT should meet a minimum of 4 times per year. 

The purpose of the meetings will be to:

• review any previously agreed actions and their outcomes, agree current activity and plan future events  
• review the SCT’s financial position against planned activities and grant giving
• agree the purchase of any resources required from SSAFA such as marketing materials, fundraising support etc
• ensure processes are being followed and that systems are in place for gathering impact and evaluation data
• discuss any support trends emerging that need highlighting to the chain of command and/or the Serving Community Support Team.
• from time to time, hear from updates from any relevant SSAFA staff, for example Serving Community Manager, Community Engagement Manager, the local SSAFA branch or Regional Operations Manager
• share best practice and consider whether any volunteer recruitment is needed.

See Meeting Minutes Template.

A key purpose of the SCT is to raise funds to support its own activities and grant giving.

Ideally fundraising activities should be planned in advance. Often collaboration with the local SSAFA branch and other interested parties is beneficial and is encouraged. Joint fundraising activity can be beneficial in areas where it is difficult to fundraise or where volunteer numbers are low.

SSAFA benefits from the option to have QR codes to put on marketing materials such as posters, or a sticker version for collection tins etc making donations easier where people don’t have cash. The QR code is linked directly to the SCT bank account. Should an SCT require these, they should request them via the Serving Community Support Team. SSAFA can also help advise on the purchase of a Sum Up card reader from outlets such as Amazon, so that donations can be made to the SCT by card/phone. The cost of a Sum Up machine is approximately £40 and SCT funds can be used for this purchase.

The SCT can award community or individual grants to support the serving community in the local area.

The Grant Giving Guidance provides information about how grants should be applied for, considered and processed. Confidentiality and discretion of the beneficiary’s details for individual grants should be respected at all times.

Using the Grant Giving Guidance the SCT should ensure the Serving Community Support Team are notified of all grant applications and their outcomes. All grants must be received via the designated grant giving form. These should be stored securely and safely in accordance with SSAFA’s GDPR policy.

Any requests for complex or ongoing financial support should be referred on to your local SSAFA Regional Office for triage and possible case-working support.

Community Volunteering is additional emotional and practical support that the SCT can choose to offer locally, often in agreement with the Welfare services and chain of command.

Where a Community Volunteering Service is running, the SCT should adhere to the Community Volunteering processes and be in regular contact with the Serving Community Support Team.

Any referrals for CV support should be via the new Request for Support MS Form The referral will initially be assessed by the Serving Community Support Team before a fully trained and vetted Community Volunteer Coordinators or Community Volunteer is contacted to begin their support. This is to ensure compliance and governance for this service is in place and the beneficiary has given their consent for their details to be stored by SSAFA for the purposes of the support.

Community Volunteer Coordinators and Community Volunteers must complete the full training and vetting package to be considered active in the role. Training will be refreshed every 3 years and vetting every 5 years as per SSAFA’s procedures. 

To recognise that locations have unique needs, SCT may establish other activities such as Community Connection events to support loneliness and isolation or a loan store to provide equipment. Any additional support activities should be discussed and agreed with both the SCT and Serving Community Team Manager before they are put into action.

The Serving Community Support Team can assist with recruitment to volunteer roles. The team has access to the SCT Facebook page and many local Facebook groups, the Forces Families Jobs website and national and local recruitment sites. Volunteer marketing materials are also available such as recruitment posters – both digital and printable versions through SSAFA’s Marketing Hub. 

All marketing materials, adverts, press releases and other public communications must be up to date with the appropriate SSAFA branding.

The marketing team provide detailed information to support SCT’s with promoting SSAFA. Any articles should be shared with the marketing team ahead of publication.

The Marketing Hub can be accessed for resources for fundraising and awareness raising activities.

SSAFA’s digital team can help the SCT with opportunities to promote the SCT through SSAFA’s social media channels.

The Serving Community Support Team will be the SCT’s main source of support and advice. Providing information on recruitment, induction and training, Grant Giving, Community Volunteering and general queries.

The Serving Community Support Team will circulate Serving Community News bi-monthly; this will contain important updates, changes in policy and general information about SSAFA.

An annual activity report will be submitted by each SCT via the annual returns process detailing the accounts of the SCT and covering progress made with events, fundraising and awareness raising. This will also highlight volunteer recruitment plans for the coming year and a schedule of activities.

SSAFA uses GoAssemble volunteer platform to communicate important updates and invites to events for volunteers, so this site should be reviewed frequently to keep abreast of news and actions. Volunteers can update their personal details on GoAssemble and also pause their volunteering if they are going away.

Regional support and information can be gained via the Regional Operations Manager, Community Engagement Manager or local Branch.

Fundraising advice can be sought from the Fundraising team [email protected]

Queries relating to finance should be made either by email to [email protected] or by calling 020 4526 5904.

If you are ever unsure about an issue affecting SSAFA's reputation, no matter how small, please call the PR teams dedicated PR phone number on 020 4566 9144, and they will be able to provide you with further advice. This is available 24/7

Any volunteer concerned about the wellbeing or safeguarding of another adult or child should always seek further guidance. SSAFA’s Safeguarding SPOC line can be reached on +44 20 4558 7891, Mon-Fri 0900 – 1700 or advice can be sort by email [email protected] More information is available on the volunteer document hub.

For any health and safety issues or information, guidance can be found here on SSAFA’s Knowledge Base. 

In all cases, SSAFA employees and volunteers should try to resolve any issue causing dissatisfaction immediately at the point of enquiry. SSAFA welcomes the opportunity to address concerns informally, which can sometimes be quicker and less stressful for all involved. We aim to resolve the complaint at the earliest stage possible. Any complaints should be discussed with the Serving Community Team Manager.

It's very important to share examples of good practice, compliments and thanks that the SCT receives. Please let the Serving Community Support Team know about the great work you are doing to support the serving community and share your examples of best practice.