Thursday October 30th 2025
City of Edinburgh Council offices
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
Edinburgh Council failed to appropriately pay volunteer staff at an outdoor centre, according to an HMRC investigation.
The tax service said the breaches were not ‘deliberate’ – but still fined the council almost £22,000, along with a requirement that the four volunteers be paid back wages.
According to a council report, workers at the Benmore outdoor centre were classed by the council to be volunteers, but the investigation found they should be considered employees.
HMRC also said the council had failed to keep up-to-date records of hours worked at the centre, and only had data from planned work schedules.
Two complaints by staff were considered by HMRC, with one complaint leading to the conclusion that the volunteers on site were employees for the purpose of employment law.
HMRC said that the volunteers at the site were undertaking work that is more in line with employment than volunteer work.
This included volunteers finding other work to do during scheduled shifts when other tasks were done, and taking on guiding activities at the centre while alone.
Just over £29,000 has been paid to four affected staff members as back pay, with the costs drawn from the budget that contributes to the operations of the centre.
The report said the council was now re-assessing the way in which volunteers work in the council, and ensuring they are used in compliance with the law.
A council spokesperson said: “We’ve taken immediate action on the back of HMRC’s review, which acknowledged this was not a deliberate breach, and we’re grateful to those who helped to highlight and rectify the error.”
Earlier this year, it was revealed that the council had overpaid staff to the tune of £1.78 million over the course of five years.
Efforts had been made to reclaim the all of the costs – but councillors voted in April to write off almost £140,000 in overpayments that could not be recovered.
The £140k sum was for overpayments made to 27 former staff members who could not be contacted to set up repayment plans.
Councillors will consider the report at the next meeting of the Governance, Risk and Best Value Committee on Thursday, November 6.
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