Press Release
Charities 'must get better at reporting serious incidents' says Charity Commission
3 June 2009
The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, is calling on charities to be more proactive in reporting serious incidents. This comes as the Commission publishes updated guidance to help charities follow best practice and comply with the law in this area. Although the guidance is aimed at charity trustees, it will also be useful to legal and accountancy professionals working with charities, who can sometimes be the first to become aware of a serious incident having taken place.
The updated guidance details the serious incidents which trustees should always report to the Commission - for example, links to or support for terrorism, fraud or abuse of vulnerable beneficiaries - and sets out clearly how charities should handle reporting them. As well as providing links to Charity Commission information and advice, the guidance tells charities where to find relevant information from other agencies. In addition, the Commission's approach to handling confidential or sensitive information is explained in relation to serious incident reporting.
Andrew Hind, Chief Executive at the Charity Commission, said:
"Serious incident reporting is something that trustees must consider carefully as part of their responsibility to safeguard and manage the risks to their charity's assets, work, beneficiaries and reputation. Serious incidents do arise on occasion, and they have the potential to harm a charity's reputation or damage its ability to fundraise. By reporting serious incidents to the Commission, trustees can demonstrate that they have dealt with them appropriately. It will not be necessary for the Charity Commission to intervene in every instance, but we will get involved where it is necessary to protect the charity and its beneficiaries
"In the past we have found that some charities were not aware that they should always inform the Commission when a serious incident has taken place, even if another agency, for example the police, has already been told. In fact, the Commission would be very concerned if it became aware of a serious incident that was not reported by the charity at the time."
As best practice, serious incidents should be reported as soon as they occur. For a copy of the guidance, visit http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/investigations/rsinotes.asp
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