Citizen Coin is an app and a website where you can sign up for volunteering activities set up by:
• Community groups
• Council partners, such as the NHS
People who take part in these activities are then rewarded with virtual Citizen Coins. These can be used on discounts on goods and services from local participating retailers.
Anyone can sign up to Citizen Coin to start earning rewards. Simply visit the website or download the app to sign up and create a profile. Then, you can browse the Activities offered by our partner organisations (who we call Rewarding Agencies) and find an activity to suit you. After you sign up and complete the activity, the organisation will reward you with Citizen Coins.
Local businesses accept Citizen Coin in return for discounts on goods and services. Visit the Offers section on the app to see what’s available, then spend your Citizen Coin by scanning a QR code on the Citizen Coin app on your smartphone. You can do this in person or online. Once the business receives Citizen Coins from you, you pay them the discounted price.
There is no set value to a Citizen Coin. We offer guidance to Rewarding Agencies and Retailers on how many Citizen Coins to give or take, and they have flexibility to meet their needs. This makes sure that people who receive benefits will not be affected by using Citizen Coin.
No. Anyone who takes part in the activities on Citizen Coin can be rewarded and spend their coins at participating businesses within the Bradford and Wakefield districts.
You must be 13 years of age or older to have a Citizen Coin account. Young people under this age can still take part in some activities and be rewarded through the Citizen Coin account of a parent or guardian. Please note this is at the discretion of the activity provider.
All data captured by Citizen Coin and provided to the Council is fully anonymised. The data we collect is limited to general demographic data only which falls under GDPR criteria. The app and website are independently security tested to CREST standards.
In short, no. Earning Citizen Coins will not affect your benefits any more than earning Nectar Points would.
You can read more information about volunteering and claiming benefits here: Volunteering and claiming benefits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The activities posted on Citizen Coin will change over time and grow as more community groups, charities, and organisations sign up to the app. You will be able to earn coins for participating in activities like:
• Volunteering
• Surveys
• Civic Participation
• Wellbeing
• Training
• Education
• Environmental
• Healthy Lifestyle
Yes. Citizen Coins can be sent freely between people through the app. You just need to know their email address or be able to scan their personal QR code found on the app.
At the moment, Citizen Coins do not expire if you retain a Citizen Coin account.
You can visit the website www.citizencoin.uk
You can email us at contact@citizencoin.uk
Your volunteer provider needs to sign up to Citizen Coin. It’s free and easy to do. You can:
• ask them to sign up via www.citizencoin.uk
• send an email with their details to contact@citizencoin.uk and we will get in touch with them to discuss Citizen Coin.
Nothing. Wakefield Council is providing Citizen Coin for free to the Rewarding Agencies, Businesses, and Citizens of the Wakefield District.
You need to register for an account at www.citizencoin.uk and click the green ‘Business Sign up’ button. From there, you will be asked for information about your offer before you post it on the app.
Once you have signed up, a member of the Citizen Coin team will be in touch to offer support and guidance.
You are in charge here. You can post discounted offers to draw in additional footfall as often as it suits you and your business. You may decide to post an offer for anything between a few hours, a day, weekend, a week, a month, or a full year.
The value of your offer is up to you. Retailers have posted offers between 50p and £99. You can decide to limit the offer by time or number of customers. You have the functionality to copy a previous offer and only need to change the date.
You can choose to create an offer which can be redeemed once only by each customer. You could also offer unlimited repeat redemption, for example, £2.50 off a hot drink between the hours of 9:30 am to 11.30 am on weekdays only.
Any offer you post can be edited or removed from the platform at any time.
Anything that is exclusively for adult purposes is not permitted on Citizen Coin, including:
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Gambling
However, this does not stop businesses who offer these goods and services having an offer on Citizen Coin for alternative products that do fit within our guidelines. For example, a restaurant that serves alcohol could have an offer for food on the Citizen Coin platform.
When you create an offer on Citizen Coin a QR code is produced. The resident will scan the code on the Citizen Coin app to claim the offer. They will then show you their screen that shows an offer has been claimed and you can provide the discount.
The journey is now complete. You will have a database of all transactions within your Citizen Coin dashboard. These show your support for the great deeds undertaken by customers who have earned Citizen Coins across the Wakefield district. This dashboard can be used to evidence your Corporate Social Responsibility.
By placing your offer on the app, you will be promoting your business directly to all registered users on the Citizen Coin platform. Throughout the year, we will share offers on our social pages and via email marketing to our users.
Citizen Coin is still new, but the number of registered users is growing all the time. If you have any questions about this, you can contact us at contact@citizencoin.uk and we can offer support and guidance.
Nothing. Citizen Coin is provided for free to the Rewarding Agencies, Businesses, and Citizens of the Bradford and Wakefield Districts.
You will need to register for an account. Visit www.citizencoin.uk and click on the red ‘Rewarding Agency’ sign up button. You will be asked to fill in details about your organisation. Once you have applied, a member of the Citizen Coin team will make some basic checks to make sure that requests for accounts are from genuine and reputable organisations. Once you have been approved, a member of the team will get in touch to offer training and support.
We expect organisations to have policies and procedures in place to maintain the safety of volunteers whilst they carry out their duties. Citizen Coin and Wakefield Council do not accept any liability for your volunteers.
Once you have been approved for the Citizen Coin platform, you will be able to post activities and opportunities. It is possible to have several administrators who can post offers and reward Coins using one Rewarding Agency profile.
There is no set limit. It cannot be that one hour of volunteering is equal to one Citizen Coin, and one Citizen Coin equals a £1 discount. This could be seen as paying someone for their time and could affect someone’s access to benefits.
Instead, the amount of Citizen Coins you offer is up to you and the needs of your volunteers. Here are some examples:
• For attending a meeting or short training session you could offer one Coin
• A morning or afternoon volunteering may be worth two Citizen Coins
• A full day may be worth three Citizen Coins
• Or you may choose another metric yourself
If you find it difficult to recruit volunteers to a particular activity, you can increase the amount of Citizen Coins offered to see if you attract any more interest.
Please note: We operate under an agreement of trust. However, there are safeguards if excessive amounts of Citizen Coins are issued. This may result in your account being closed.
There are several ways to give out Citizen Coins. Each activity that you post will create a QR code. Participants can scan this on their Citizen Coin app. Alternatively, you can manually reward the Coins through the platform.
Citizen Coin is new and registered users are increasing all the time. See it as an opportunity to reward your existing volunteers whilst the membership grows. Very soon, you will hopefully be recruiting new volunteers through Citizen Coin.
