To volunteer for EVL, workers (whether they work for the Council or any other employer in the County) need to obtain a certificate from the local administering authority, which by coincidence is the Council.  

If you are interested in taking EVL please contact PAVO (Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations) on 01597 822191 or 01686 626220 or by following this link https://www.pavo.org.uk/home.html. 

PAVO are administering the EVL scheme in partnership with the Council. Where PAVO feel you have suitable skills and experience and where there are suitable volunteering opportunities, PAVO will arrange for the Council’s HR Team to issue you with an EV certificate, enabling you to work as a volunteer.   

Once you have the certificate you must give the Council three days’ notice in writing that you will be taking EVL and will need to provide the certificate authorising this.  

 The way EVL works is that authorised volunteers can take EVL in periods of two, three or four weeks. Only one period of EVL can be taken in any one 16-week volunteering period, which starts on the day these provisions come into force. We are still waiting for the relevant statutory regulations to be enacted by the UK Government, to bring this new right into force, which means that for the time-being you are not able to start a period of EVL, we will however update this answer / guidance as soon as the regulations are enacted.   

  Whilst on EVL all of the worker’s employment rights are protected, the employment contract continues and the time away from work will be without pay. In enacting the regulations, the Government will also confirm how employees who take EVL will be compensated.