What is the difference between a policy and a procedure?

A policy is what you will do, and a procedure is how you will do it. Procedures should be written after your policy is agreed and could be a separate document or a section of the same.

If you are a brand new organisation, try not to worry too much about having all policies and procedures in place immediately, you may not need them all until you are more established.

Your governing document will set out your immediate basic procedures for meetings, membership, and committees. However, a well-managed group should have some other basic policies and procedures in place from the start – these do not need to be lengthy, complicated documents – sometimes a short, to-the-point statement of intent can be all you need.

The following sets out some of the basic policies a group could have:

Some Basic Requirements:

Health and Safety
Equal Opportunities Statement
Confidentiality
Risk Assessment
Child Protection (for groups working with children and young people)
Vulnerable Adult Policy (for groups working in this area)

Once a Group becomes more established, you may start working with volunteers or employing staff and you will need more policies and procedures including:
Volunteer Policy – including recruitment and induction
Expenses Policy
Staff Recruitment & Induction
Disciplinary & Grievance
Absence
And lots more…

You may want to think about setting up an organisational handbook which keeps all your policies and procedures in one document. If you are employing staff, you will need a staff handbook which incorporates all the personnel policies and procedures for your staff.
Remember! Your Policies and Procedures are working documents and will need regularly reviewing and updating.

Further Help:
For further information about which policies and procedures you should have in place, see:
www.volresource.org.uk
www.volunteering.org.uk
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
www.governancepages.org.uk