Bethan Walsh shares an overview of the reporting regime & the steps that charities should take to comply
The Charity Commission published changes to its guidance on serious incidents, how to spot them and when to report them on 17 October 2018. The Commission’s changes came about following its analysis of the safeguarding reports received between 1 February and 31 May 2018. The analysis revealed shortfalls in the regime, or rather trustees’ understanding of the regime, but a significant concern was the extent to which a number of serious incidents go unreported. In this regard, only 1.5% of registered charities have submitted any kind of serious incident report since 2014. Michelle Russell, director of investigations at the Charity Commission, expressed the view that charities that don’t report serious incidents are considered riskier than those that do.
The Commission’s guidance contains detailed information about dealing with safeguarding incidents. Failure to properly manage safeguarding risks is a serious regulatory concern for the Commission and may amount to misconduct. Protecting people should be a priority for all charities and any shortfalls in this regard can seriously damage public trust
