These publications have been quickly followed by the announcement of the inquiry into Oxfam and steps to improve safeguarding in the charity sector, together with adjustments to other Commission policy documents. Key developments to note are:
While the Commission's policy on safeguarding is distributed throughout many documents, the recent steps confirm that the Strategy contains the Commission's policy line on its role in regulating safeguarding and the vigour with which it is acting.
A Commission tweet on 13 February called on charities to report any previously unreported serious incidents as a matter of urgency showing the Commission using as many channels of communication as possible to spread this message. Charities should ensure that there are no serious incidents in connection with the broad safeguarding duty, including allegations of abuse, sexual harassment or other serious mistreatment of staff, volunteers or anyone else, and serious or widespread mistreatment of donors (or potential donors) in the course of fundraising, which have not been reported to the Commission.
More widely, trustees are expected to understand their safeguarding duties and responsibilities and to ensure adequate measures are in place to assess and address safeguarding risks. Central to this is ensuring that appropriate safeguarding arrangements are in place to identify and deal correctly with safeguarding concerns. Charities should be reviewing their arrangements to ensure they reflect the latest guidance.