Shaftesbury Refugee Group
Reporting Critical or Serious Incidents Policy
Introduction
This policy covers serious incident reporting to the charity regulator, the Charity Commission (“the commission”). This policy provides Shaftesbury Refugee Group with an effective and easy to follow process that closely follows the commission’s guidance.
The commission states that it is vital that charities report serious incidents to the regulator. The commission understands that serious incidents will happen, and it is the commission's role to ensure that trustees comply with their legal duties and that the charity manages the incident responsibly. The commission will be looking for assurance that we have taken steps to limit the immediate impact of any serious incidents that may occur and, where possible, prevent it from happening again. Although many problems can be resolved by trustees themselves, reporting is needed because sometimes the commission needs to use its powers to protect a charity.
What is a serious incident?
The commission defines significant as ‘significant in the context of your charity, taking account of its staff, operations, finances and / or reputation'; and defines a serious incident as an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant:
Harm to people who come into contact with our charity through our work
Loss of our charity’s money or assets.
Harm to our charity’s work or reputation.
An act of discrimination against any person with a protected characteristic listed in the Equality Act 2010 will also be treated as a serious incident.
The main categories of reportable incidents set out by the commission are:
Protecting people and safeguarding incidents – incidents that have resulted in or risk significant harm to beneficiaries and other people who come into contact with the charity through its work.
Financial crimes – fraud, theft, cyber-crime and money laundering.
Large donations from an unknown or unverifiable source, or suspicious financial activity using the charity’s funds.
Other significant financial loss.
Links to terrorism or extremism, including ‘proscribed’ (or banned) organisations, individuals subject to an asset freeze or kidnapping of staff.
Other significant incidents, such as – insolvency, forced withdrawal of banking services without an alternative, significant data breaches / losses or incidents involving partners that materially affect the charity.
What will we report?
We will report any incidents that fall into the above categories or which the chair deems are significant. The board of trustees will be consulted by the chair within 48 hours as to whether the incident constitutes a serious incident and requires reporting to the Charity Commission.
How quickly should we report?
It is Shaftesbury Refugee Group’s policy to report all ‘serious incidents’ to the commission within 48 hours of the chair’s decision, or if the matter has been referred more widely to some or all the charity’s trustees the decision of those trustees,We will provide an appropriate level of information and respond to any resulting requests for information from the commission within five working days.
Who will be responsible for reporting?
The responsibility for reporting serious incidents rests with the charity's trustees.
Any or all trustees can refer any potentially reportable incident to the chair immediately either by telephone or email. The report will then be made by the chair to the commission within 48 hours of the trustees’ decision to report a serious incident.
Actions we will take in response to a serious incident
If there is a serious incident the trustees, together with the chair will:
Immediately begin a log of information held, decisions made and actions taken.
As soon as reasonably practicable prevent or minimise any further harm, loss or damage.
Report it to the police (and / or other relevant agencies) if we suspect a crime has been committed, and to any other regulators the charity is accountable to and other agencies such as the local authority designated officer (LADO) for safeguarding.
Report it to the commission as a serious incident.
Put in place a communication plan for trustees, volunteers, beneficiaries, the public, and the media.
Review what happened and prevent it from happening again – this may include reviewing internal controls and procedures, internal or external investigation and / or seeking appropriate help from professional advisers.
How we will report
The chair will report any incidents to the Charity Commission using its online reporting form. If the information provided (or which Shaftesbury Refugee Group wish to provide to the commission) is particularly sensitive or confidential or if a particular exemption applies, we will inform the commission and explain our reasoning.
Annual declarations to the Charity Commission
The charity is required as part of its annual return, to sign a declaration confirming there were no serious incidents during the financial year that should have been reported to the commission. If incidents did occur, but were not reported at the time, we will submit these before we file our charity's annual return, so that we can make the declaration and meet our legal reporting requirements.