Volunteering
Saltire Awards
What are the Saltire Awards all about?
The Saltire Awards are a nationally recognised award for volunteering, for young people aged 12 – 25. Young people gain certificates, signed by Scottish Government ministers, for the volunteering they have successfully achieved.
The Challenge
The Challenge is for those just getting started in volunteering through completing a team challenge. This can be a great way to have a taster of volunteering by working together with classmates and friends.
The Approach
For when a young person feels ready to give volunteering a go, the approach rewards regular volunteering of 10 and 25 hours. The approach can help you to use and learn skills and find out what you might be good at!
The Ascent
When you feel ready to take your volunteering to the next level, the ascent can be a great way of using your newly found skills and showing real commitment to a charity or community group. You can gain certificates for 50, 100, 200 and even 500 hours!
The Summit
For those that have made an outstanding contribution to volunteering. Individuals are nominated for this award (for example, from your supervisor, teacher or youth worker) for those who have volunteered over 200 hours and have made an outstanding contribution to volunteering.
Saltire Ambassador
If you have achieved ‘The Ascent’, you could become a Saltire Ambassador.
Ambassadors can get involved in all aspects of the Saltire Awards. This includes promotional activities and helping to make decisions about Summit Award nominations.
How do I sign up?
It is very straight forward to sign up. Just visit www.saltireawards.org.uk and hit the ‘sign up today button. From there you simply fill out the form to make an account and you are ready to start gaining your certificates
How do I claim my certificates?
Once you have signed up on the website, you simply sign in to ‘add hours’. An email is then sent to your supervisor for verification. Once this has gone through you can download and print a pdf of your certificate
What is involved for the host organisation?
As the supervisor of a young person working toward their saltire certificates, you will have to verify their hours once requested. This is very simple and straight forward to do. If you have any queries or difficulties, please get in touch on the email below for further support.
Info for schools and youth groups
If you work with young people and would like more information, or to arrange a visit and talk about Saltire and the benefits of volunteering, please do not hesitate to get in touch at