All Diocesan Boards of Finance (DBF), Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) and Religious Communities are charities and their trustees are required to report any Serious Incidents, both safeguarding and non-safeguarding, to the Charity Commission.
The Church of England has issued bespoke Serious Incident Reporting guidance for Diocesan Boards of Finance (DBF), Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) and Religious Communities (“Guidance”).
This Guidance has been agreed with the Charity Commission for how to identify and report a Serious Incident. This Guidance is Church focussed for church bodies to apply and also uses the Church’s safeguarding structures to streamline the reporting of safeguarding Serious Incidents, particularly by PCCs.
Non-Safeguarding Serious Incidents
- A Non-Safeguarding Serious Incident is an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant harm to the charity’s beneficiaries, employees, office holders, volunteers or to others who come into contact with the charity through its work, loss of the charity’s money or assets, damage to the charity’s property or harm to the charity’s work or reputation.
- What is considered to be “significant” is a matter for the trustees to determine, as it will depend on the context of the charity, taking into account its operations, staff, finances and reputation.
Reporting Non-Safeguarding Serious Incidents
- Incidents should be reported directly to the Charity Commission by the PCC, further guidance and supporting links can be found on the Parish Resources website (click here).
Safeguarding Serious Incidents
- A safeguarding Serious Incident is an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant harm to the charity’s beneficiaries, employees, office holders, volunteers or to others who come into contact with the charity through its work. This includes where there are allegations or incidents of abuse of or risks to beneficiaries or others connected with the charity’s activities.What is considered to be “significant” is a matter for the trustees to determine, as it will depend on the context of the charity, taking into account its operations, staff, finances and reputation.
What should you do if a Safeguarding Serious Incident is identified?
- If a Safeguarding Serious Incident is identified, the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser must be informed immediately, in accordance with all and any applicable House of Bishops’ Code of Practice and Guidance in place from time to time, to protect the PCC’s beneficiaries, employees, Church Officers, volunteers and any others who come into contact with the PCC through its work and to prevent or minimise any further harm.
- The trustees of each PCC should delegate the reporting of safeguarding Serious Incidents to the Charity Commission to the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser.
Reporting Safeguarding Serious Incidents
- Guidance documents and supporting FAQs on how PCCs should Report a Safeguarding serious Incident can be found on the Parish Resources website (click here).