The organisers of troubled Doune the Rabbit Hole music festival have come under fire for asking volunteers to pay a £145 deposit to work at the event for free.
The call was issued from the festival’s social media pages on Wednesday afternoon, with those interested then asked to provide a payment as a gesture of “commitment” to the event.
It is currently £95 but will rise to £145 at the end of May.
The festival website states: “To volunteer at the festival, a deposit is required to show your commitment. This will be refunded to you after the festival if you turn up to shifts on time, in a fit state and complete all your shifts.”
A further section reveals that prospective volunteers could be left waiting for up to a month for their money to be paid back, with refund requests taking five to ten working days once requests for refunds are processed.
In a post on Twitter yesterday, organisers stated: “The volunteer deposit is £95 until the end of May and then goes up to £145. “This is to encourage people to sign up to volunteer early in exactly the same way as early bird tickets discounts are designed to encourage earlier ticket sales. This is completely normal.”
But the move has attracted concern online following revelations in March that some artists and performers left out of pocket after the organisers of the 2022 festival went into liquidation could be facing a three-year wait to recoup their money. That was outlined in an email from the organisers to creditors in which they said they would aim to recover losses made on the 2022 event by using the proceeds from future festivals, beginning with the 2023 gathering.
Mid Scotland and Fife Green MSP Mark Ruskell said: “It’s concerning to see DTRH requiring festival volunteers to shell out a deposit that will only be paid back to folks a month after the festival has run.”
He added that some may be put off “considering the fact that last years’ performing artists are still out of pocket” and urged: “DTRH must provide urgent reassurances that volunteer deposits will be protected and guarantee that all those who have given their time will have deposits paid back as soon as possible after the festival.”
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His regional colleague Alexander Stewart MSP said it was unfortunate that “this deposit situation appears to have turned into normal practice” at festivals as a consequence of people applying and either not turning up, or arriving then taking the crew pass and disappearing into the festival.
But a Stirling consumer expert warned volunteers to be sure of their rights before committing to working for free at the festival.
Craig Anderson, CEO of Stirling Citizens’ Advice Bureau, said: “From the CAB experience all our volunteering is free and expenses are paid to our volunteers should they choose to claim them.
“Volunteers are not employees and as such have no legal protection under the Employment Rights Act.
“This does appear fraught with difficulties in respect of how would a volunteer pursue the repayment of their deposit should the organisers decide to withhold it based on a subjective decision around that individuals contribution and capacity to volunteer at the event.
“The only obvious route would be via simple procedures of a Sheriff Court; the cost of raising a court action using simple procedure depends on the value you are claiming - claims of £300 or less have a £20 fee and claims over £300 are a £110 fee.”
Doune the Rabbit Hole volunteer coordinator Ruth McGill said: “Volunteers make an invaluable contribution to the running of Doune The Rabbit Hole.
“As part of our recruitment process, and like most other festivals, we ask volunteers who are new to our team to pay a deposit.
“The purpose of this is to deter the very small minority who may see festival volunteering as a way to get a free ticket without making a contribution. Most festivals ask for the same as a ticket price, for example the charity Oxfam take £360 from volunteers applying to steward at Glastonbury.
“Our deposit is currently £95, making it less than half the ticket price. In spite of the financial challenges experienced in 2022, all bar one of our 168 volunteers received their deposit back within days of the event.
“The one exception was an individual who did not turn up for any of their assigned shifts. “This year we have partnered with a company called Volunteer Heros which was set up by one of the team who manages volunteers at multiple Scottish events, for the sole purpose of holding volunteer deposits in a safe, neutral and unconnected bank account, allowing them to be refunded with a single click once volunteers have completed their shifts.
“Whilst we advertise that volunteer deposits may take up to a month to be returned, this would only be in an exceptional circumstance such as if a volunteer didn’t check out of their last shift and we needed to investigate.
“The 2022 festival was beset with issues, with the event’s licence approved by councillors in an emergency meeting the day before after concerns about emergency services. Visitor numbers were reduced from 15,000 to 10,000 - with councillors expressing relief about the 11th-hour approval."
