Charity Trustees's safeguarding responsibilities

As a result of a spate of charity safeguarding scandals over the last five years or so, the Charity Commission has taken an increasing interest in ensuring that charities take safeguarding seriously. It has updated its guidance on safeguarding five times since it was first published in December 2017.

Importantly, the Commission takes a very broad view of safeguarding, to encompass protecting everyone involved with a charity not just vulnerable beneficiaries but also staff, volunteers and anyone else who may come into contact with the charity. This has at least two important implications:

1. Safeguarding is about very much more than the statutory requirements around child protection and protecting vulnerable adults. It extends into a wealth of other matters including harassment and bullying at work, heath and safety and much more. Even small charities need to have policies and practices in place that meet these requirements.

2. Almost all charities need to have one or more safeguarding policies, even if they do not specifically work with children or vulnerable adults as defined in the legislation. Even grant makers need policies in place to ensure that they support charities with robust safeguarding practices. As a minimum there should be processes and training in place for identifying and reporting any safeguarding concerns.

All this requires leadership, starting with Trustees, even in larger charities that may have a safeguarding officer or team. But what are Trustee’s duties in respect of safeguarding and how can they make sure they discharge those duties properly?

The Charity Commission guidance says that they expect all Trustees to make sure their charity:

• has appropriate policies and procedures in place, which are followed by all trustees, volunteers and beneficiaries;

• checks that people are suitable to act in their roles;

• knows how to spot and handle concerns in a full and open manner;

• has a clear system of referring or reporting to relevant agencies as soon as concerns are suspected or identified;

• sets out risks and how they will be managed in a risk register which is regularly reviewed;

• follows statutory guidance, good practice guidance and legislation relevant to their charity: this guidance links to the main sources of information;

• is quick to respond to concerns and carry out appropriate investigations;

• does not ignore harm or downplays failures;

• has a balanced trustee board and does not let one trustee dominate its work – trustees should work together;

• makes sure protecting people from harm is central to its culture;

• has enough resources, including trained staff/volunteers/trustees for safeguarding and protecting people; and

• conducts periodic reviews of safeguarding policies, procedures and practice.

There’s a lot in there and it is dangerous to try to boil it down to something simpler because each charity is different and so the safeguarding risks it faces will need different responses.

What is clear that charities need to have at least the following in their approach to safeguarding:

• A bespoke, robust safeguarding policy (and maybe two - one for children and one for vulnerable adults because the statutory regimes for each are different), including policies on safer recruitment practices.

• Other policies related to safeguarding such as health and safety (with associated risk assessments), harassment and bullying, complaints and whistleblowing, data protection, volunteer management, risk management (including a risk register) and codes of conduct.

• Effective and regular training to underpin these policies for staff, volunteers and Trustees so that everyone knows what the regime is and how to make it work. Policies are meaningless unless practice reflects the policy.

• Regular reporting to the Board on safeguarding matters including any incidents and how the charity has responded to them.

All this needs to be underpinned by effective governance that is kept under regular review, regular reviews of all policies and procedures, and appropriate resourcing. There are plenty of other resources out there to help charities improve their safeguarding practice including the NCVO’s Steps to a Safer Organisation and the Charity Governance Code.

In case anyone reading this blog thinks that this is all about compliance with the law and guidance, we want to make clear that, while that is important, it is not the point. Everyone who comes into contact with a charity is entitled to feel safe and respected and the sector has a moral responsibility to ensure safeguarding is taken seriously so that harm is avoided.

What Trustees say and do to promote and enable good safeguarding practice sets the tone and culture for everyone in the charity, and that matters more than anything else.

To find out more about the governance support and training we offer, including help to develop policies and procedures and governance reviews, please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial telephone discussion.