Unpaid work · municipal policy · excess
Liability insurance for voluntary work
Volunteering is unpaid, but liability is not. The question each time is which policy pays first: the organisation's, the municipality's or your own insurance.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering bij vrijwilligerswerk.
Calculate your premium or request a quote
Without obligation; a reply within one working day.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out your own premium with the calculator.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Anyone doing unpaid work for a foundation, association or aid organisation can cause damage to someone else and can be injured themselves. The first is a matter of liability, the second of the organisation's duty of care. Those two run along different policies and that makes volunteering messier in insurance terms than paid work. Always start with the organisation, therefore: are you named as an insured person in their business liability insurance, or not?
Many municipalities have taken out a collective volunteers' insurance for everyone doing volunteer work within the municipal boundaries. That cover generally operates supplementary: first the organisation's policy or your own liability insurance is considered, and only what is left over reaches the municipal policy. The scope differs from municipality to municipality. Ask the organisation what arrangement is in place and do not assume that the municipality picks up everything.
If you also work as a self-employed person and use your professional skills unpaid — a heating engineer who checks the community centre's boiler, a bookkeeper who does a club's annual accounts — a grey area arises. Your business public and employers' liability insurance covers the capacity stated on the policy schedule; unpaid work in that same trade often does fall under it, but record that in writing with your insurer in advance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
Where things go wrong in volunteering
Four points that determine whether damage during volunteer work lands anywhere.
Personal insurance stops at business conduct
Personal liability insurance expressly does not cover damage arising in the practice of a profession or business. Volunteer work often still falls under it, but as soon as you do the work you also do professionally, the assessment changes. Ask your insurer for written confirmation before you get to work with tools or professional skills.
The organisation's duty of care applies to you as well
If you are injured during the work, Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code is the starting point: the principal's duty of care extends to persons carrying out work outside a contract of employment. The organisation must therefore provide safe equipment, instruction and supervision. If the employers' liability section is missing from their policy, there is no insurance to pick it up.
Driving for the organisation
If you transport clients, meals or materials in your own car, the compulsory insurance in Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)applies; motor damage is excluded on the AVB. Your own injury as the driver is therefore not arranged; separate cover exists for that, see WEGAS and WEGAM. Also tell your motor insurer that you drive regularly for an organisation.
Other people's belongings in your keeping
If you do odd jobs at people's homes, hold a key or take materials home, you run into the care, custody and control exclusion: damage to property in your keeping is not covered as standard. That hits precisely the typical volunteer work such as shopping services, handyman services and maintenance on someone else's home.
What does your premium depend on?
- Nature of the work — administrative work weighs differently from odd jobs or care
- Working with tools or at height — increases the injury and property damage risk
- Contact with vulnerable people — accompanying and transporting clients counts more heavily
- Self-employed as well as a volunteer — the professional capacity determines the form of policy
- Sum insured and excess — per claim and per insurance year
- Cover already in place — an organisation's or municipal policy can overlap
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
What is covered
| Situation | AVP | AVB |
|---|---|---|
| While delivering meals you knock over a vase at a client's home | Yes | Provided that |
| You damage the wheelchair you were pushing during an outing | Provided that | No |
| As a heating engineer you check the community centre's boiler unpaid and water damage results | No | Provided that |
| You fall from a ladder during the working day and break your wrist | No | No |
| You transport clients in your own car and cause a collision | No | No |
| You do a club's annual accounts unpaid and the club receives an additional tax assessment | No | No |
The closer the volunteer work comes to your own trade, the sooner the personal policy drops out.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often about this.
Am I personally liable as a volunteer?
You can be. If you cause damage through careless conduct, Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code applies, whether or not you are paid for it. In many cases the injured party can also hold the organisation liable under Article 6:170 DCC, because you were working under its direction. If you are named as an insured person in the organisation's policy, your personal liability is included there.
Does the municipal volunteers' insurance cover everything?
No. The collective arrangements many municipalities have are secondary: they step in for what another insurance does not cover, and have their own conditions and exclusions. Damage to property in your keeping, road damage with a motor vehicle and pure financial loss generally stay out of the picture. Ask the municipality or the organisation for the policy conditions before you rely on it.
I am self-employed and help a foundation unpaid. Which policy applies?
That depends on the capacity stated on your business policy. If you do the same work as in your business, your personal liability insurance almost certainly excludes it and your public and employers' liability insurance has to pick it up. Report that situation in advance; Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to disclose everything relevant to the assessment when the insurance is taken out.
What if I act deliberately or very carelessly?
Then the insurer does not pay. Under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, damage caused by the insured's intent or recklessness remains uncompensated, and deliberately ignoring a safety instruction can fall within that. Quite apart from that, the duty to notify in Article 7:941 DCC applies: report an incident as soon as you know of it, even if no claim has yet been made.
Read more
Similar pages
- Liability insurance for a volunteer organisation
- Liability insurance for charity work
- Liability insurance for an independent garage business
- Liability insurance for a foundation
- Liability insurance for an association
- Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) through a.s.r.
- Liability insurance for a self-employed dog walker
- Liability insurance for a graphic designer as a self-employed professional (zzp’er)