Reporting Serious Incidents

(June 2008)

Good practice has always been that trustees should inform the Commission if any serious incident has arisen within their charity that could significantly harm the charity’s property, work, beneficiaries or reputation.

Charity trustees should report serious incidents to the Commission as soon as they are aware of them. Trustees can report serious incidents to the Commission in one of the following ways:

• by contacting Charity Commission Direct in writing at PO Box 1227, Liverpool, L69 3UG;
• by calling 0845 300 0218; or
• by email.

Trustees of charities with an income over £25,000 must, as part of the charity’s Annual return, declare that there are no serious incidents or other matters which they should have brought to our attention but have not. Failure to provide this confirmation would be a breach of legal requirements.

We have revised our guidance for trustees on reporting serious incidents. This explains our approach to issues of serious concern and clarifies what we consider to be serious or significant. It contains important updated guidance for trustees on when and how to report serious incidents within their charity and the legal requirements placed upon them.

When charity trustees report a serious incident to the Commission they should provide as much information as possible to help us decide what, if any, action is appropriate. It is helpful for us to know:

• whether an incident has actually happened, or whether there have been allegations/ suspicions that it has happened;
• when the incident happened;
• who was involved, their position in the charity and whether they are still involved with the charity;
• the impact that the incident has had on the charity and/ or its beneficiaries;
• whether there has been any publicity as a result of the incident;
• what action the trustees have taken and the outcome of any inquiry they have conducted into the incident;
• whether another regulator, law enforcement or government agency is involved; or
• whether there are any statutory provisions governing the incident.

We cannot definitively state what our response will be to any given issue because this will depend on the particular circumstances of the incident, the charity and the trustees’ ability to resolve it without our intervention. We would stress that generally we try to work with the consent of trustees to resolve serious concerns. Our main aim is always to safeguard the charity and public trust and confidence in the sector.

The reporting of serious incidents does not replace any of the existing means by which people can report concerns about charities to the Charity Commission which should be sent to Charity Commission Direct.