Reporting serious incidents to the Charity Commission

1. Reporting serious incidents to the Charity Commission Briefing for Parishes

2. Some starting pointsHousekeeping

3. Purpose of briefing • To give an overview of the new House of Bishops approved guidance on the reporting of serious incidents to the Charity Commission (CC) • To ensure that trustees are aware of their responsibilities in light of the new guidance • To provide an opportunity for trustees or those acting on their behalf, to ask questions regarding implementation of the new guidance

4. Why do the Charity Commission require trustees to report serious incidents? • Trustees are held responsible for compliance with the law and the CC guidance in relation to their charity • Serious incident reporting and an explanation of how they are being dealt with is a trustee responsibility • The role of the CC is regulatory and limited to scrutinising the conduct of the charity and its trustees, and the steps they are taking to protect the charity, its beneficiaries, assets, reputation and services

5. Reporting serious incidents to the Charity Commission (i) • 2014 CC Guidance • Updated September 2017 & October 2018 • Compulsory to make a declaration in CC annual return that there are no serious incidents that should have been reported but which have not been • It is an offence under section 60 of the Charities Act 2011 to provide false or misleading information to the CC

6. Reporting serious incidents to the Charity Commission (ii) • Early 2018 – series of serious incident charity scandals in the media • CC internal audit: • - only 1.5% of charities had reported a serious incident • (ie believed to be underreporting) • - many reports late and did not include sufficient information to satisfy CC that trustees were acting properly • Concern about non-reporting…

7. New Church of England guidance and templates • To make it easier to comply with existing reporting obligations by providing relevant C of E guidance on what is and what is not a serious incident, and when and how to report • Separate guidance for safeguarding & non-safeguarding incidents • Approved by the CC • Guidance and templates approved by House of Bishops • NB compliance with House of Bishops approved guidance

8. Who does the CofE guidance apply to? • All PCCs, religious communities and DBFs - whether registered with CC or excepted (ie because annual income is less than £100k) • Contact Finance Adviser re registration queries • [Note that you are not expected to review your files to identify and report Serious Incidents from previous financial years that were not so reported]

9. Why have the new House of Bishops Guidance and changes in reporting requirements been introduced? • Continued concern for churches to be (seen as) a safe environment • Continued concern to safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults in our churches • Continued concern for trustees to understand and fulfil their responsibilities, and to have robust systems in place • Evidence of under-reporting

10. What is a serious incident? • An incident is a Serious Incident if it results in, or risks significant financial loss to a charity, damage to a charity’s property, or harm to a charity’s work, beneficiaries or to its reputation

11. What is a safeguarding serious incident? • An adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant harm to the charity’s beneficiaries, employees, office holders, volunteers or to others who come into contact with the charity through its work, loss of the charity’s money or assets, damage to the charity’s property or harm to the charity’s work or reputation. • ‘Significant’ is for the trustees to determine, depending upon context, operations, staff, finance and reputation

12. Serious Incidents (i) • Fraud • Cyber crime • Theft • Significant financial loss • Data protection breach • Link to terrorism or extremism • Unverifiable or suspicious donations • Trustees disqualified from acting as a trustee • Charity subject to an investigation by the police, agency or regulator

13. Serious Incidents (ii) • Major governance event renders charity unable to operate eg mass resignations • Insolvency • Incidents involving partner charities/organisations that materially affect a charity, its reputation, staff, finances or operations etc • Safeguarding * • Protecting people (HR issues) * • * changes in reporting these

14. Reporting Serious Incidents: what and who

15. Reporting Non-Safeguarding Serious Incidents • No changes to how these are reported • PCC report as previously to the CC • Responsibility rests with PCC trustees but can be delegated • See guidance at www.london.anglican.org • Any questions to Finance Advisors

16. Reporting Safeguarding Serious Incidents(including Protecting People) • Delegating the authority: • At next PCC meeting, delegation of reporting authority for safeguarding serious incidents to the General Secretary of the LDF • Using the delegation form (for LDF template see www.london.anglican.org) • Send completed delegation forms to seriousincidentreporting@london.anglican.org

17. Reporting Safeguarding Serious Incidents(including Protecting People) • Once authority has been delegated: • PCC (usually the Safeguarding Officer) reports to Diocese (call Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor 020 7932 1224 or by email seriousincidentreporting@london.anglican.org) • Diocesan advisors assist PCC with appropriate next steps • See handouts - examples to assist with navigating

18. Safeguarding serious incidents: DBFs reporting on behalf of PCCs – what happens next? • Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (or the HR Manager) prepares Serious Incident Reports in consultation with the trustees • Dovetails with the management of serious safeguarding incidents – the PCC must inform the DSA who then manages the incident for the PCC • Aim to improve quality and quantity of reporting – DSA best placed to prepare the report • Requirement for LDF to report to CC only triggered by the PCC informing the DSA • The Director of HR and Safeguarding (on behalf of the General Secretary) submits Serious Incident Reports for PCCs in line with the standard delegation by the PCCs trustees • Reporting also to the national safeguarding team

19. Next steps – how are the Diocese of London managing implementation • National guidance in place from 1 January 2019 • Engagement and communication to support understanding of the changes • Set up new systems at Diocesan House to manage and monitor reporting and its impact • Implementation from June 2019 • January – June 2019 use this guidance • Registered charities – declaration in annual return to the CC for last financial year • Excepted PCCs - from start of this financial year • Guidance available on our website • Further help available…

20. Where do I start with this? • Speak with key people - what is the best way to discuss this at your PCC? • What are the concerns likely to be? How can you prepare? • How will arrangements work best in your parish? Which PCC members will need to know about any SIs? • Once the PCC agree the delegation – complete it and send it to: • seriousincidentreporting@london.anglican.org

21. Further help available • www.parishresources.org.uk/pccs/trusteeship/serious-incident-reporting/ (CofE) • https://www.london.anglican.org/support/safeguarding/reporting-serious-incidents/ • Email: seriousincidentreporting@london.anglican.org • Diocesan Safeguarding Advisers 020 7932 1224 • Diocesan HR Advisers 020 7932 1200 • Area Finance Advisers

22. Any questions ?