Harriet Parfitt and Hana Ali, in our Charities & Education team, explain a charity's obligations in relation to safeguarding.
Trustees have a paramount duty to act in the best interest of their charity, its beneficiaries and its service users.
In order to satisfy this duty, trustees of charities dealing with vulnerable groups must ensure that the charity implements a robust safeguarding policy.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding refers to the protection of people from harm, abuse or neglect.
This involves minimising the risk of harm by ensuring that staff, volunteers and any individual affiliated with the organisation:
- understand their roles and responsibilities; and
- have confidence that their concerns, if raised, will be addressed appropriately.
Capturing obligations effectively
Trustees must adopt and maintain an effective safeguarding policy that is compliant with the law of England and Wales, and most importantly, fit for purpose.
The extent of your policy will depend on the service your charity provides, and to whom.
The Charity Commission has issued its own guidance specifically for charities, which provides the voluntary sector with a strategy for dealing with safeguarding concerns in relation to vulnerable groups. In particular, those charities dealing with young people should follow the statutory guidance on ‘Working Together To Safeguard Children.’ This guidance recommends best practice for charities by working with parents and carers, agencies and local authorities to share information where appropriate to identify and address safeguarding issues.
Any safeguarding policy should be reviewed annually by the trustees. More frequent reviews may be necessary in response to any significant changes in an organisation and always following significant incidents.
Fostering a culture of safeguarding
All trustees must understand their charity’s safeguarding policy and how to properly implement it.
Trustees are also responsible for ensuring that:
- Training is provided to all individuals in the charity that are working with vulnerable groups on the associated risks, how to identify these risks and how to manage them;
- All employees, workers and volunteers at the charity are suitable for their roles and properly vetted, and are able and equipped to respect the rights and obligations of the service users;
- A proper safeguarding culture is maintained, usually through adoption of a Code of Conduct; and
- Whistleblowing procedures are in place so that a culture exists where people feel safe and encouraged to report their concerns.
Our Charities & Education team can help establish a safeguarding procedure for your organisation.
For further information or legal advice, please contact law@blandy.co.uk or call 0118 951 6800.
This article is intended for the use of clients and other interested parties. The information contained in it is believed to be correct at the date of publication, but it is necessarily of a brief and general nature and should not be relied upon as a substitute for specific professional advice.
