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The Charity Commission is alerting all charities to the importance of providing a safe and trusted environment for anyone who comes into contact with them, including staff and volunteers.

The new alert follows a number of recent reports to the Commission of serious incidents involving concerns about the welfare of charity volunteers and beneficiaries, and media reports of safeguarding incidents in charities.

The alert reminds charities that, if something goes wrong in a charity, trustees are accountable and responsible for putting things right. The Commission says trustees should therefore assure themselves that their safeguarding practices are robust.

It is specifically advising trustees to:

• review their charity’s safeguarding governance and management arrangements and performance if they have not done so within the last 12 months.
• contact the Commission about safeguarding issues, or serious safeguarding incidents, complaints or allegations which have not previously been disclosed to the regulator or the appropriate authorities.

The Commission’s recently revised safeguarding strategy makes clear that safeguarding should be a key governance priority for all charities, not just those working with groups traditionally considered at risk.

Harvey Grenville, Head of Investigations and Enforcement at the Charity Commission, says:

The public rightly expects charities to be safe and trusted environments where people are protected from harm, including the charity’s own staff and volunteers. So all charities need to be alert to the importance of safeguarding those who come into contact with them. What that means in practice will of course depend on the nature and circumstances of a charity’s work. Trustees of charities in which, for whatever reason, individuals may potentially hold significant authority or power or over others, including their colleagues, must take account of that in setting and implementing safeguarding policies. This includes environments in which individuals, by virtue of their formal position or their experience or personality, are held in high regard and respect by those around them.

The regulator has also published a report of a case involving Oxfam; the Commission engaged with the charity over its handling of a number of concerning allegations about recent and non-recent safeguarding incidents involving senior staff, including allegations of sexual harassment.

The report concludes that the charity demonstrates elements of good practice in its safeguarding management and how it responds to allegations, but that there is further work for the charity to do around HR culture, and the overall governance and management of safeguarding in the charity. As result of the Commission’s involvement, the charity has committed to a number of significant steps, including an externally led review of its HR culture. The full report is published on gov.uk.

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Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. The Commission takes a risk-based approach to safeguarding matters and its role is to ensure that trustees of charities work with or provide services to vulnerable beneficiaries comply with their legal duties, and take reasonable steps to protect them and other persons that come into contact with the charity from harm and minimise the risk of abuse.
3. The Commission is not responsible for dealing with incidents of actual abuse and does not administer safeguarding legislation. It cannot prosecute or bring criminal proceedings, although it can and does refer any concerns to the police, local authorities and the Disclosure and Barring Service (‘DBS’) each of which has particular statutory functions.

The Charity Commission (‘the Commission’), the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, is issuing this alert to charities as regulatory advice under section 15(2) of the Charities Act 2011.

It has published this alert to charities following a number of serious incidents reported to the Commission, and recent public interest about accusations of harassment in the work place, including media reporting about some safeguarding incidents which have affected charity beneficiaries, charity workers or other persons coming into contact with charities.

The Charity Commission’s recently updated safeguarding strategy makes clear that safeguarding should be a key governance priority for all charities, not just those working with groups traditionally considered at risk.

Everybody has the right to be safe, no matter who they are or what their circumstances are, and the public expects charities, quite rightly, to be safe and trusted places.

We are reminding charities of the importance of:

• providing a safe and trusted environment which safeguards anyone who comes into contact with it including beneficiaries, staff and volunteers

• setting an organisational culture that prioritises safeguarding, so that it is safe for those affected to come forward and report incidents and concerns with the assurance they will be handled sensitively and properly

• having adequate safeguarding policies, procedures and measures to protect people

• providing clarity as to how incidents and allegations will be handled should they arise, including reporting to the relevant authorities, such as the Commission.

The Commission’s guidance makes clear that:

• trustee duties include avoiding exposing the charity’s assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk – this means taking reasonable steps to protect beneficiaries, employees and volunteers from harm

• on occasion, charities may be targeted by people who abuse their position and privileges to gain access to vulnerable people or their records for inappropriate or illegal purposes – trustees must be alert to this risk and the need to manage it

• safeguarding goes beyond preventing physical abuse, and includes protecting people from harm generally, including neglect, emotional abuse, exploitation, radicalisation, and the consequences of the misuse of personal data

Trustees need to be satisfied that there are clear lines of responsibility and accountability for safeguarding, in particular when working with other organisations to deliver services to their beneficiaries. Trustees should be satisfied that any partner organisation has in place adequate safeguarding arrangements, including appropriate policies and mechanisms to provide assurance on compliance. This is particularly relevant for charities which undertake overseas humanitarian or development work with affiliates or in a confederated structure.

If something goes wrong in a charity, the trustees are accountable and the Commission expects the trustees to take responsibility for putting things right. This is why trustees should assure themselves that their safeguarding practices are robust. If there are concerns about this or about how issues may have been dealt with in past, trustees should carry out a formal review, including on the adequacy and robustness of the charity’s safeguarding measures, procedures and policies.

Trustees are advised to ensure that their charities:

• undertake a thorough review of their charity’s safeguarding governance and management arrangements and performance if one has not been recently conducted within the last 12 months

• contact the Commission about safeguarding issues, or serious safeguarding incidents, complaints or allegations which have not previously been disclosed to the charity regulator

Failures by trustees to manage safeguarding risks would be of serious regulatory concern to the Commission. We may consider this to be misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity and it may also be a breach of trustee duty.

How to ensure you protect your beneficiaries and others that come into contact with your charity

Specifically, our advice is trustees need to:

• know your duties and responsibilities – under charity law but also under other specific statutory duties or guidance which apply because of the type of work your charity undertakes

• ensure adequate measures are in place to assess and address safeguarding risks

• put in place adequate safeguarding policies and procedures, including relevant HR matters, appropriate for your charity’s particular circumstances and which reflect both the law and best practice

• make sure your charity’s policies and procedures are effectively applied in practice

• ensure there are mechanisms in place which provide trustees with assurance about your charity’s compliance with those policies and procedures

• ensure those safeguarding policies, practice, and performance are robustly and regularly reviewed to ensure they are up to date and fit for purpose

• actively promote a safe culture and strong awareness of everyone’s safeguarding responsibilities in your charity

• take steps to help deter and prevent safeguarding issues from occurring

• ensure there are mechanisms in place to promptly identify and act upon emerging safeguarding trends or issues

• ensure that serious incidents are reported to the Commission in accordance with its guidance and that safeguarding allegations, complaints or incidents are reported to other agencies in accordance with the law and best practice

The measures in place should be proportionate to the size of the charity and the risks arising from the charity’s activities.

For further advice and sources of guidance:

The Winter 2017-2018 Stakeholder Newsletter provides an update on a number of recent work projects that are being undertaken as part of the Blue Belt programme.

The Blue Belt programme is a four year programme (2016 to 2020), delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) with the UK Overseas Territories on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The programme supports delivery of the UK government’s manifesto commitment to provide long term protection of over four million square kilometres of marine environment across the UK Overseas Territories.

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