A new support worker starts next week and asks: “Can I just use my own phone?”
It sounds like a simple question. But the answer decides who pays for the calls, who keeps the number when they leave, and what the charity can see on a phone it doesn’t own.
Whether your team works from home, visits beneficiaries in the community or moves between sites, everyone needs a reliable way to make and take work calls. Getting phones for remote staff right means balancing what staff need with your budget and your charity’s data.
This guide walks you through the realistic options, the four decisions to settle before rollout, and what to put in a simple charity mobile phone policy. You don’t need any technical knowledge. And if you’d rather have someone set it up for you, Qlic can help.
Your Options for Remote Staff Phones, at a Glance
There’s no single mobile telephony solution that works for every charity. The best choice depends on how your staff work, how often they make calls and whether they need to contact beneficiaries while away from their desks.
Here are four common options to consider:
Telephony Option | How It Works | Best For | Main Trade-Off |
Company mobile | Charity-owned handset or SIM-only contract | Community, outreach and lone-working roles | Handset costs and managing devices when staff leave |
Personal phone + calling app | An app provides a charity number through hosted VoIP or Microsoft Teams Phone | Hybrid staff, office-based employees and volunteers | Relies on internet connectivity and introduces device security considerations |
Personal phone + eSIM or dual SIM | A second charity line operates on an employee’s personal handset | Staff who prefer carrying one device | Requires a compatible handset and clear separation of personal and work use |
Hybrid approach | A combination of different options depending on staff roles | Charities with varied working arrangements | Requires more planning and management |
For example, a charity might give company mobiles to support workers who visit families, while fundraising and admin staff use a calling app on their own phones. Frontline staff get a reliable phone, and nobody pays for handsets they don’t need.
This blended approach avoids the cost of unnecessary handsets while ensuring frontline staff have reliable communication tools.
When choosing a mobile telephony solution, consider not only how many people need phones, but also where, when and how they will use them.
What Does Qlic Recommend for Charities?
Choosing the right devices is only part of the solution. Charities must also decide how to manage incoming calls when staff work remotely or across multiple locations.
Centralised phone systems with mobile or Microsoft Teams integration make this easier, reducing reliance on individual employees or office handsets.
Instead of sending enquiries to one person’s mobile, calls can be routed to the right team or department, helping charities provide a consistent service wherever staff are working.
Neel Mavji, Head of IT Communications at Qlic IT, explains the positive impact that flexible telephony can have:
“We’ve seen how much easier it makes things for charities when their teams can work from anywhere while still providing a consistent service. It’s not just about answering calls remotely, it’s about making sure calls reach the right people, reducing admin and giving staff more time to focus on what matters.”
A good system also shows you call volumes and missed calls. As Paul Brazier explains in Qlic’s ‘The Future of Telephony’ webinar:
“It’s all about collecting that data and making it easy to use for you. Then we can make an informed decision or choice. It’s surprising the amount of people that don’t actually know how many calls they’re missing, and if you’re offering support, it’s important to know that.”
For more detail, see our guides to choosing the right telephony solution for your charity’s size and telephony solutions for nonprofit organisations, and how phones fit into wider remote working best practices.
Who Pays, Who Owns the Number, and What Staff Can Expect
Whichever option you choose, settle these four questions before rollout. Getting them right protects your budget, your charity’s numbers and data, and your staff’s trust.
Who’s paying for each phone, and how?
- Why it matters: The cheapest-looking option isn’t always the cheapest once you add up the full monthly cost and how you pay it. Under HMRC’s rules on mobile phones, one phone or SIM per employee on the charity’s own contract is generally exempt from tax and National Insurance. Paying or reimbursing a staff member’s personal contract usually isn’t. (Note: These rules apply to paid employees, not volunteers. This is a summary of HMRC guidance, not tax advice, so check with your accountant or payroll provider.)
- Good setup: A known monthly cost per person, with phones or SIMs on the charity’s own contract.
- Red flag: “Staff can just claim it back on expenses” or “We’ll sort out the cost later.”
To work out the real cost by role:
- List who genuinely needs a company handset, and who could use a calling app or a charity-funded SIM.
- Add up handset payments, licences, setup fees and support for each person.
- Compare mobile packages, including SIM-only plans, so you don’t pay for more than you need. Our guide to a cost-effective telephony model for nonprofits explains where the costs usually sit.
If someone left tomorrow, would the number stay with you?
- Why it matters: If a support worker gives families their personal mobile number, those families will keep ringing it after the support worker leaves. The charity has no way to redirect those calls.
- Good setup: Every number given out for work belongs to the charity, either on a company mobile or on a calling app. There’s a clear process for redirecting calls and removing access when someone leaves or loses a phone.
- Red flag: “Everyone just uses their own number” or “We’d ask them to pass on any calls.”
A calling app makes this simple. Staff answer a charity-owned number on their own phone, and the charity can switch off access or redirect the number in minutes.
Neel Mavji, Head of IT Communications at Qlic IT, sees the alternative often:
“One issue we see is charities relying on a mixture of personal mobiles, traditional handsets and separate phone systems without thinking about how calls should be managed when staff are working remotely.”
We often recommend centralised call routing, ring groups and mobile or Teams integration. Ring groups let another team member answer when someone is unavailable. With centralised routing and mobile or Teams integration, charities can handle enquiries consistently from anywhere.
For an example of how Qlic can help charities use integrated telephony across desktops, laptops and mobiles, see The Maypole Project case study.
What can the charity see on a staff member’s own phone?
- Why it matters: Staff asked to use their own phones will want to know what the charity can see. A clear answer upfront builds trust.
- Good setup: App protection that manages work apps and data only, not personal photos, messages or browsing, explained to staff before rollout.
- Red flag: “IT can see everything” or “We haven’t told staff anything.”
Tools like Microsoft Intune can protect work apps such as Outlook and Teams without managing the whole phone. Full device enrolment gives the charity more control but also more visibility, so staff need to know which approach you’re using.
Before introducing BYOD (bring your own device, where staff use their personal phones for work), tell staff:
- which work apps will be managed
- what administrators can and can’t see
- whether work data can be wiped remotely
- what happens to charity data when they leave
This matters even more when phones hold beneficiary or donor details. It’s part of your wider GDPR and data protection responsibilities.
Is any of this written down?
- Why it matters: Writing the decisions down is what makes them stick. It gives staff and volunteers one place to check the rules.
- Good setup: A one-page charity mobile phone policy that everyone can find and understand.
- Red flag: “Everyone knows the rules” or “We’ll deal with it if it comes up.”
Your policy should cover:
- Who gets what: which roles get a company phone, and when staff can use their own.
- Volunteers: what they can use. For example, a calling app rather than their personal number.
- Acceptable use: personal calls, data allowances, and whether WhatsApp can be used to contact beneficiaries.
- Privacy and security: what the charity can see, and which security settings are required.
- Lost or stolen phones: who to tell and how quickly.
- Leavers: returning equipment, removing app access, and passing charity numbers to a colleague.
Build the policy into your induction, especially when remotely onboarding employees, so new starters know the rules from day one.
Keeping Charity Data Safe on Remote Phones
Whichever option you choose, work phones will hold charity data: beneficiary contact details, emails, appointments and documents. A few basics protect that data without taking over staff’s personal devices.
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Turn on MFA for every work account used on a phone. Then a stolen password alone isn’t enough to get in.
- Remote wipe: Make sure work data can be wiped remotely if a phone is lost or stolen. On a personal phone, this removes only charity data and leaves photos and messages untouched.
- App protection and Cyber Essentials: Use app protection, such as Microsoft Intune for charities, so work data stays separate on personal phones. Personal phones used for work email or apps fall within Cyber Essentials scope, while phones used only for calls and texts don’t.
- Lost phones and GDPR: A lost phone holding beneficiary data may be a personal data breach. If it’s likely to put people at risk, you must tell the ICO without undue delay, and within 72 hours where feasible. See the ICO’s guidance on reporting a breach.
To see what else M365 can do, read about the benefits of Microsoft Intune for remote working.
How Qlic IT Can Help
Qlic IT helps charities find reliable, secure and cost-effective communication solutions.
Whether you need mobile calling for remote staff, want to replace office handsets or bring separate systems together, our team can recommend the right approach.
We can review your setup, recommend options, configure call routing and Microsoft Teams integration, and provide ongoing support to keep staff connected.
Looking to improve mobile telephony for your charity?
Get in touch with Qlic IT to discuss your current setup and explore the best options for your team.
