Dealing with Safeguarding Issues - Keep up to Date with Developments

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:

• the Charity Commission emailed charities directly about safeguarding and reporting incidents, as discussed in our stop press article last month
• press release on 5 February reminding trustees that safeguarding is a key governance priority for all charities
• tackling abuse and mismanagement 2016-17 report and update to the Commission's Risk Framework highlighting safeguarding as one of the key strategic risk areas.The report in particular emphasises the importance of being alert to, and discharging, safeguarding responsibilities
• the holding of two safeguarding summits, and publication of the outcomes, one for charities working internationally and one for charities working in the UK. Themes agreed for priority action for charities working in the UK were:
  • leadership, culture and values
  • law, regulation and the statutory framework
  • capacity and capability in charities around safeguarding
  • responsibilities and reporting, accountability and transparency
• updating the guidance Charities: how to protect children and adults at risk to reflect the Strategy and identifying whistleblowing and complaints policies as mechanisms for concerns to be raised

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.

For further advice on your charity's safeguarding obligations or assistance in developing appropriate policies and procedures, please contact Tabitha Cave on 0117 314 5381 or Sarah Mannion on 0117 314 5392.