Raising Concerns and Serious Incident Reporting Policy | Babyloss Support Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland

Purpose

This policy outlines the procedures for identifying, reporting, and managing serious incidents within our charity. It ensures compliance with our charity regulator’s guidelines and promotes transparency and accountability.

This guidance is based on that issued by the Charity Commission (England and Wales) but goes beyond it to take into consideration wider issues specific to our charity and the regulatory guidance.

Applicability

This policy applies to all trustees, other volunteers, employees, contractors, and third-party representatives of the charity. Its requirements should be reflected in other policies and procedures, agreements and contracts, as necessary.

When to Raise a Concern

A charity must raise a concern with the charity regulator about any of the following.

A charity not following the law, which significantly damages its reputation and public trust in charities generally
Serious harm to the people the charity helps or other people who come into contact with the charity through its work
Charities being used for significant private advantage
A charity set up for illegal or improper purposes, for example to avoid paying tax
A charity losing significant amounts of money
A charity losing significant assets, for example land or buildings
Criminal, illegal or terrorist activity
A reportable safeguarding incident in accordance with the charity’s safeguarding policy.

Investigating an Incident

Any incident that causes an injury or harm should be investigated. For serious incidents it may be necessary to have it formally investigated or even be investigated by external authorities. However, even if it is only minor and only requires an informal review by line management, the following process should be followed.

Identify what happened and the extent of any injury or harm.
Assess if there is a serious incident, or other, reporting requirement.
Identify the cause, if a mistake was made by someone and/or there was a weakness in policy or procedures.
Identify what reasonable steps should be taken to prevent or at least mitigate the risk of it happening again, who should take these steps and a timescale for doing so.

Responsibility to Report

The responsibility for reporting serious incidents rests with the charity’s trustees. Trustees may delegate the task to an employee or professional adviser, but they retain ultimate responsibility for ensuring timely and accurate reporting.

What to Report

Incidents that must be reported include, but are not limited to:

Fraud, theft, or significant financial loss.
Significant harm to beneficiaries, staff, or volunteers.
Major governance issues.
Any other incident that could seriously impact the charity’s reputation or operations.

The main categories of reportable incident 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.

Examples of what we should and should not report are contained in the Charity Commission (England & Wales) – Serious Incident Examples Table – Deciding What to Report.

How to Report

Initial Report: As soon as a serious incident is identified, it must be reported to the Charity Commission via email at rsi@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk. The report should include:
- What happened.
- How the charity is dealing with the incident.
- Any steps taken to prevent a recurrence.
Follow-Up Report: Provide updates as the situation develops and when the incident is resolved.

Other Reporting

Emergency Services. We would always dial 999 to inform the Police and/or emergency services, if there was an immediate threat of harm or serious damage to property. We will normally inform the Police in the event of suspected or actual criminal activity, serious injury or death or if an incident poses a significant risk to public safety, such as a bomb threat or large-scale disturbance.

Charity. All serious incidents and any that might be criminal in nature or result in a claim or complaint are to be reported to the Board and our insurers. We will seek advice from professional advisers, where appropriate to do so.

Other Regulators. In addition, there may be a requirement to notify other UK regulators depending on the nature of the incident. Below is a non-exhaustive list of some.

ICO – data breach self-assessment, including requirement to report.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS): if an individual has been dismissed or removed from working with children or vulnerable adults (or would have been if they had not left first) because they harmed or posed a risk of harm or there are concerns that an individual may pose a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults.
Local Authority Environmental Health Department: For incidents in certain sectors like retail, warehousing, and offices.
Care Quality Commission (CQC): If the incident occurs in a healthcare setting, such as a hospital, care home, or clinic.
Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills): If the incident involves safeguarding issues or affects the welfare of children and young people.