Section 1 - Guidance for DBF's

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Last updated: 18 July 2022
Version: 1

Introduction

All DBFs are charities and so are required to report all Serious Incidents (safeguarding and otherwise) to the Charity Commission. 

The directors of a DBF are charity trustees and are responsible for compliance with the law and the Charity Commission’s guidance in relation to their DBF. The Charity Commission’s guidance1   emphasises the duty of care that charity trustees have towards their beneficiaries and others connected with their charity’s activities and the importance of all charities adopting and implementing appropriate policies on safeguarding. 

One of the responsibilities of charity trustees is to report any “Serious Incidents” occurring within their charity to the Charity Commission.  This House of Bishops’ guidance explains how to identify when a safeguarding Serious Incident occurs and sets out the procedure for reporting such incidents to the Charity Commission. 

For guidance on Serious Incidents that do not relate to safeguarding, such as financial crime, significant financial loss and data protection breaches, please see the relevant guidance.2

It is important to remember that the requirement to report a Serious Incident to the Charity Commission is in addition to any requirement to notify the police, local authority, statutory agency or other relevant authority.

1. What is a safeguarding “Serious Incident”?

  1. 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.

The following are examples of what should be reported to the Charity Commission as a safeguarding Serious Incident:

  • beneficiaries of your charity (adults or children) have been, or are alleged to have been, abused or mistreated while under the care of the charity, or by someone connected with the charity or by a Church Officer (being anyone appointed/elected by or on behalf of the Church to an office, post or role, whether they are ordained or lay, paid or unpaid)3  for example a DBF trustee, an office holder carrying out duties on behalf of the DBF, an employee or a volunteer;
  • a person who comes into contact with the charity through its work (including a member of the clergy, an employee or a volunteer) has been abused or mistreated (alleged or actual) and the abuse or mistreatment is connected with the activities of the charity (for example it occurred during a religious service, a home visit by clergy or a pastoral visitor or an activity or event run by the DBF); 
  • there has been a breach of the House of Bishops’ guidance or other safeguarding procedures or policies at the charity which has put beneficiaries and other persons who come into contact with the charity through its work at significant risk of harm, including failure to report safeguarding concerns to statutory agencies or to carry out relevant vetting checks which would have identified that a person is disqualified in law, under safeguarding legislation, from working with children, young people or adults; 
  • it is brought to the attention of the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser that an allegation has been made against a Church Officer, employee or volunteer in relation to a safeguarding matter which is not related to their work or volunteering role in the diocese, but the nature of the allegation is such that they are assessed as a potential risk by the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser and action is taken to manage any identified risk that person may pose to the charity’s beneficiaries; or
  • alleged or actual incidents in the workplace which have resulted in or risk significant harm to trustees, employees, office holders or volunteers and are considered to be “serious” in the context of the charity. An incident should always be reported where the level of harm to the victims and/or the likely damage to the reputation of or public trust in the charity is particularly high. For example: allegations of serious sexual abuse of and by a staff member, office holder or volunteer; abuse by a senior member of staff or office holder or if a widespread of culture of bullying, abuse or sexual harassment is uncovered.

Any incident which is connected with the activities of the charity and involves actual or alleged criminal activity should always be reported to the police and/or the local authority, as well as to the Charity Commission as a Serious Incident. You should not wait until someone has been arrested, charged or convicted, before reporting an incident.

The Charity Commission has published an Examples Table4  which may help you to decide whether a safeguarding incident is a Serious Incident that must be reported to the Charity Commission. If you are unsure whether or not a safeguarding incident should be reported to the Charity Commission, you should seek advice from your diocesan registrar.

2. Why do Serious Incidents need to be reported to the Charity Commission?

The Charity Commission considers safeguarding to be a governance priority for all charities. If a charity’s trustees do not manage safeguarding risks sufficiently, the Charity Commission may consider there to be misconduct and mismanagement by the trustees.

When a Serious Incident is reported to it, the Charity Commission considers whether it is appropriate to provide the reporting charity with regulatory advice or guidance. In the most serious cases, the Charity Commission may need to exercise its statutory powers. In addition, the Charity Commission will consider whether it needs to take any steps to protect other charities, for example where the alleged perpetrator is also a trustee or office holder, or volunteers at or works in another charity. 

The person who submits the DBF’s Annual Return to the Charity Commission each year on behalf of the trustees is required to make a declaration that no Serious Incidents occurred in the DBF during the previous financial year that should have been reported but were not. Therefore, unless all Serious Incidents have been duly reported, the DBF will not be able to make the declaration required in order to submit its Annual Return, as it is an offence to provide false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.

3. When should a Serious Incident be reported to the Charity Commission?

The Charity Commission expects Serious Incidents to be reported to it “promptly”, i.e. as soon as is reasonably possible after it happens, or immediately after you become aware of it.5 In practice, a report should be made once sufficient information has been gathered for the report to be meaningful. However, there may be occasions where it is appropriate for a brief initial report to be made, with an indication that a follow-up report will be made once additional information has been obtained.

It is important to report Serious Incidents in a timely manner, as a failure to report a Serious Incident that subsequently comes to light may be considered by the Charity Commission to be mismanagement, or a serious governance failure. This could result in the Charity Commission taking regulatory action, particularly if further abuse has taken place following the initial Serious Incident that was not reported.

  • 5See also Section 7 on bulk reporting.

4. When should a safeguarding Serious Incident in a partner organisation be reported to the Charity Commission?

The Charity Commission expects each charity to demonstrate that it has suitable governance structures in place to provide an appropriate level of oversight in relation to incidents which materially affect the charity’s operations, finances, people or reputation and that these incidents are being properly managed by the charity. This includes consequences and risks which result from safeguarding Serious Incidents that take place in partner organisations.

Serious Incident Report will need to be made to the Charity Commission when you become aware that a safeguarding Serious Incident has occurred in one of the DBF’s partner organisations which materially affects the DBF, its staff, operations, finances and/or reputation to such an extent that it is serious enough to be reported by the DBF. 

A partner organisation in this context includes the following:

  • a delivery partner or sub-contractor of the DBF;
  • a subsidiary trading company of the DBF;
  • an organisation that receives funding from the DBF; and
  • another charity or organisation that is linked to the DBF. 

The DBF’s trustees need to consider whether a safeguarding incident in a partner organisation should be reported, taking into account the DBF’s activities, size, funding and the nature of the DBF’s relationship with the partner, as well as the nature and severity of the safeguarding incident. 

When deciding whether or not a report needs to be made, you should use the guiding principles below to categorise Serious Incidents which happen in a partner into three areas:

(A) those which are most likely to need to be reported;

(B) those which may need to be reported; and

(C) those which are least likely to need to be reported.

These principles should help you to assess whether your DBF needs to report a safeguarding incident occurring in a partner organisation as a Serious Incident. Your assessment should take into account the specific circumstances of the event or incident, the actual or likely impact on your charity and the likely risk to the DBF. Where a decision is made not to report an incident in this category, the decision should be recorded in writing together with the reasons why it was made.

  1. The incident involves the DBF’s funds or its staff/ volunteers; or it occurred during an activity or programme which the DBF funds, has responsibility for or is involved with as a joint activity/programme; or the DBF has the same branding as the partner. 

This is considered to be the highest risk category due to the close links between your charity and the Serious Incident. However, whether a Serious Incident in this category will need to be reported by the DBF as a Serious Incident will depend on:

  • how serious the incident is; and
  • how significant an impact the incident is likely to have on the DBF, its operations, finances, people and/or reputation. 

Where the DBF has the same branding as the partner, so that the public may identify the DBF as being part of the same entity as the partner, there may be a significant impact on the reputation of the DBF, or on public trust and confidence in the DBF. This is because the public may not distinguish between the two organisations. This may mean that the DBF also needs to report the incident as a Serious Incident, even if there is little or no impact on your charity’s activities, finances or people.    

You should consider whether you need to report any safeguarding incidents involving partner organisations which fall into this category. When deciding whether an incident is serious enough to be reported by the DBF, the starting point should be whether the incident would have been reported as a Serious Incident if it had happened in the DBF. 

B. The incident does not involve the DBF’s funds, brand or people but could have an impact on the DBF.

Serious Incidents in a partner organisation are less likely to need to be reported to the Charity Commission when the DBF does not have close links to the partner in which the safeguarding Serious incident happened. However, the DBF may still need to make a report where the particular incident: 

  • causes or is likely to cause material reputational damage to the DBF and / or; 
  • raises or is likely to raise material issues around due diligence in terms of whether the partner concerned remains capable of delivering the DBF’s work or continues to be a suitable partner for the DBF to work with and / or;
  • is a trigger event (as defined within your charity’s funding or partnership agreement with that partner) that the DBF considers to be so significant that it would trigger suspension or termination of the agreement or arrangement with the partner.

C. The incident does not involve the DBF’s funds, brand or people and is sufficiently remote from the DBF’s work that it has little or no impact on the DBF’s reputation or the partner’s ability to deliver its work with the DBF.

This type of incident would not usually need to be reported to the Charity Commission.  

DBFs and PCCs

PCCs have certain links to the DBF in the diocese and so a DBF may consider, on occasion, that it needs to report certain safeguarding Serious Incidents that happen in a PCC as a partner organisation. By way of example, where the incident is of a particularly serious nature and involves a parish priest, the DBF only needs to make one Serious Incident report on behalf of the PCC, unless there is risk of significant particular harm to the reputation of the DBF as a result of the Serious Incident.

As Diocesan Safeguarding Advisers report all safeguarding Serious Incidents on behalf of PCCs, (whether individually or in the bulk report),6 Diocesan Safeguarding Advisers can use the report of the safeguarding Serious Incident for that PCC to also report the incident on behalf of the DBF. This can be done simply by including the DBF’s details where the report asks for the details of the names and registration numbers of the other charities you are reporting on behalf of.

  • 6See PCC Guidance on Reporting Serious Incidents to the Charity Commission

5. What is not a Serious Incident?

If an incident is not Serious, or it is not connected with the DBF’s activities, it does not need to be reported. By way of example, disclosures that abuse is occurring outside the DBF, for example a beneficiary discloses abuse is taking place in their own home, and which are not connected to the DBF or its activities should be reported to the relevant authorities in accordance with the relevant guidance. However, as the abuse does not relate to the DBF’s activities, and the alleged perpetrator is not connected to the DBF, it is not a Serious Incident for these purposes and so should not be reported to the Charity Commission.

6. What should you do if a safeguarding Serious Incident is identified?

If a safeguarding Serious Incident is identified, immediate action is required in accordance with all and any applicable House of Bishops’ Code of Practice and Guidance in place from time to time, to protect the DBF’s beneficiaries, employees, Church Officers, volunteers and any others who come into contact with the charity through its work and to prevent or minimise any further harm.

7. Bulk reporting Serious Incidents

The Charity Commission has agreed that, as DBFs report safeguarding Serious Incidents on behalf of the PCCs in the diocese, a DBF may, where appropriate, report safeguarding Serious Incidents in PCCs using periodic bulk reports, rather than reporting each incident separately. However, any particularly serious or significant incidents, and/or those likely to attract media attention, must be reported to the Charity Commission individually.

Bulk reporting should only be used where you are reporting a significant number of incidents in each bulk report.

The Charity Commission has agreed that a DBF which decides to use the bulk reporting facility should submit bulk reports every six months for appropriate safeguarding Serious Incidents in the DBF and on behalf of the PCCs in the diocese. Bulk reports should be prepared using the Charity Commission’s bespoke bulk reporting template for DBFs, which is available for download from the Church of England’s Safeguarding Policy and Practice Guidance webpage.7

How do I decide which Serious Incidents should be individually reported and which can be included in the bulk report?

The Charity Commission’s guidance states that particularly serious or significant incidents, and/or those likely to attract media attention, should be reported to it immediately, rather than waiting to include it in the next bulk report. Examples of Serious Incidents that should be reported to the Charity Commission immediately, and not included in the bulk reports, include where:

  • there is a live risk of harm to beneficiaries (for example, the alleged perpetrator is an office holder in another parish within the diocese, or in another diocese, or holds other trusteeships or positions of responsibility in other charities);
  • the person against whom allegations have been made is a senior office holder at the charity; 
  • the alleged incident is, or a series of alleged incidents taken together are, particularly serious in the context of the charity; or
  • the incident is likely to attract substantial media interest8  which results in (or risks) significant harm to the charity’s reputation.  

However, it is also important to ensure that those incidents included in bulk reports are, in fact, Serious Incidents that require reporting.

8. Who should make the Serious Incident Report?

The responsibility for making a Serious Incident report in a timely manner rests with the DBF’s trustees, and the trustees can delegate the reporting of Serious Incidents to a third party. The trustees of each DBF should delegate the reporting safeguarding Serious Incidents to the Charity Commission to the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser.9  

It is important that this delegation sets out the parameters of the delegated responsibility and includes a general requirement for the trustees to receive reports on any safeguarding Serious Incidents reported pursuant to the delegated powers. The delegation should provide for the trustees to be informed about safeguarding Serious Incidents being reported on behalf of the trustees, as well as those where a decision was taken not to report as the incident was considered to be a borderline case.

Do all the trustees need to be involved in decisions relating to reporting safeguarding Serious Incidents? 

No. Although the ultimate responsibility for reporting safeguarding Serious Incidents to the Charity Commission sits with the charity’s trustees, for reasons relating to confidentiality, the trustees may decide it is appropriate to restrict the sharing of detailed information relating to safeguarding incidents to a smaller group of trustees only. If the DBF has such an arrangement in place, it should be reflected in the delegation so that it also confers authority on this smaller group of trustees to oversee the reporting of any Serious Incidents to the Charity Commission by the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser.

It may also be necessary10  to restrict who receives information in relation to a particular Serious Incident, for example, where theSerious Incident involves a trustee (or someone connected to a trustee), clergy, a senior member of staff or if it is necessary to protect the confidentiality of the complainant or alleged victim.

The Charity Commission recognises that there are occasions when all the trustees should not be informed about certain safeguarding matters, which is why the online reporting form asks whether all or only some of the trustees have been informed about the incidentbeing reported.

  • 9Unless the incident to be reported involves the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser.
  • 10See Section 10 below – the police may impose restrictions on information sharing during an investigation

9. How is a Serious Incident reported to the Charity Commission?

Safeguarding Serious Incidents are reported to the Charity Commission using the Charity Commission’s online form at https://ccforms.charitycommission.gov.uk. 

Bulk reports of safeguarding Serious Incidents should be emailed to the Charity Commission at [email protected] .

10. Making a Serious Incident Report

The Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser should report safeguarding Serious Incidents to the Charity Commission on behalf of the DBF. 

The Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser should be the named contact provided to the Charity Commission should it have any follow-up queries or require further information. Where follow-up queries are received, any professional advice required should be sought.

The report should present a clear picture of what happened and when, the nature and extent of the harm caused, how you are dealing with it and the steps being taken as a result of the incident to reduce the risk of such incidents occurring again, so far as is practicable.

The report to the Charity Commission should be anonymised, unless identifying the person is essential to the making of the report. If the Charity Commission requires further details and information in relation to any Serious Incident reported to it, it will ask for them. 

Can an alleged Serious Incident be reported to the Charity Commission when the police do not permit the disclosure of any information relating to that incident?

It is important that reporting a Serious Incident to the Charity Commission does not prejudice any criminal investigation. Professional advice should be sought and, where required, the police should be consulted before any information is shared relating to an alleged Serious Incident has been reported to the police. You should check that the police approve the disclosure of the information to the Charity Commission in order to make the Serious Incident Report. Where the police do not permit the disclosure of some (or any) information relating to the allegation to the Charity Commission at that point, you should report to the Charity Commission that: 

  1. an allegation about a Serious Incident has been made which has been reported to the police; 
  2. the police are currently investigating the allegation (and provide the police reference number);  
  3. the police have told the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser that they cannot disclose any details of the allegation to the Charity Commission at this point; 
  4. once the police permit details to be disclosed to the Charity Commission (or if the police investigation into the allegation concludes that it was groundless), the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser will update the Charity Commission in a follow-up report; and
  5. the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser is taking appropriate steps to safeguard the DBF’s beneficiaries etc in accordance with its policies and any advice given by the police.

11. What needs to be included in the Serious Incident Report?

In order to complete the Charity Commission’s online form, you will need the following information

(A)  General:

  • the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser’s contact details;

  • the charity name and registration number;

  • your connection to the charity (i.e. the capacity in which you are submitting the report);

  • reference numbers and contact details if you’ve reported it to other organisations, like the police; and

  • names and registration numbers of other charities involved in the incident, if relevant.

(B) Details of the incident:

  • date of the incident;

  • what happened;

  • connection to the DBF11  of the person who may be responsible for the incident and / or the connection to the charity of the person alleged to have suffered abuse or mistreatment;

    Where the person who may be responsible for the incident and / or the person alleged to have suffered abuse or mistreatment is a Church Officer, or is a volunteer with a specific role, you should select “other” from the drop down option in the online form and use the free text option to state the role of the person concerned, as this information is needed by the NST.

  • date the DBF found out about the incident;
  • how the DBF found out about the incident;
  • what impact the incident has had on the DBF’s beneficiaries, finances, staff, operations or reputation; and
  • whether all or only some of the trustees are aware of the incident (for example only some of the trustees may be aware where the Serious Incident involves a trustee, someone connected to a trustee, or senior member of staff or to protect the confidentiality of the alleged victim).

(C) How the DBF is handling the incident:

  • which of the DBF’s policies or procedures (including the House of Bishops’ Code of Practice and Guidance and any guidance from the NST) relate to the incident and whether they were followed;

  • what steps the DBF has taken to deal with the incident;

  • what steps the DBF has taken to prevent similar incidents; and

  • where applicable, the DBF’s media handling or press lines, including a link to a press release if available.12

    When reporting an historic allegation of abuse, the report should confirm whether the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser has informed the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser in the diocese in which the alleged perpetrator now holds office (if relevant). The Charity Commission also expects the DBF of the diocese in which the alleged perpetrator now holds office to make a Serious Incident report to inform the Charity Commission of the steps taken as a result of the allegation reported to protect beneficiaries and those who may come into contact with alleged perpetrator in that diocese from any potential risk of harm.

Once you submit an individual Serious Incident report to the Charity Commission, you will receive a confirmatory email with a pdf of the report attached to it and an incident reference number.  

  • 11 If you are reporting on behalf of a PCC, this will need to be made clear
  • 12If you are uncertain how to respond to media reports once the Serious Incident Report has been made, you can contact the Charity Commission’s media team for support and advice on [email protected] .

12. Completing a Bulk Report

The Charity Commission requires all charities which it has agreed may bulk report to use its standard template. However, as DBFs bulk report safeguarding Serious Incidents for the DBF and on behalf of PCCs in their diocese, the Charity Commission has created a bespoke bulk reporting template for DBFs to use. The bespoke template has specific columns in which to record the name and registration number (where applicable) of the charity on whose behalf each individual incident is being reported. This will make it clear to the Charity Commission which charity each incident being reported relates to. The bulk reporting template is available for download from the Church of England’s Safeguarding Policy and Practice Guidance webpage.13  The template is an Excel spreadsheet with three tabs:

Tab 1

This is the covering page of the bulk report which should be completed by the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser. 

Tab 2

This is the template report itself, which contains a mixture of drop-down options and free text responses. 

  • The template has different questions to be answered depending on whether the incident being reported relates to a breach of procedures or policies or to alleged abuse or mistreatment. 

  • Where the person who may be responsible for the incident and / or the person alleged to have suffered abuse or mistreatment is a Church Officer or volunteer with a specific role (e.g. bell ringer or chorister), select “other” from the drop down option in the template and use the free text option to state the role of the person concerned.14

  • The template will automatically generate an incident reference number in the final column for each incident included in the bulk report. 

Tab 3

This is where updates to previously reported safeguarding Serious Incidents can be made.

Where a DBF chooses to bulk report, two reports a year should be made: the first covering the period from 1 January to 30 June and the second covering the period from 1 July to 31 December. Once completed, bulk reports should be emailed to the Charity Commission in a timely manner at [email protected].

13. Next steps: What happens once a Serious Incident has been reported?

The Charity Commission has a limited and very specific regulatory role and will not investigate whether a criminal offence has occurred (that being the role of the police).  However, the Charity Commission will scrutinise the conduct of the charity’s trustees and the steps they have taken in order to protect the charity, its beneficiaries and those connected with the charity’s activities, now and in the future.  This includes making sure that the charity’s trustees have proper procedures and systems in place to handle allegations, are dealing with them responsibly and are reporting incidents where appropriate to the police, social services and other relevant agencies.   When it receives a Serious Incident report, the Charity Commission may:

    (a) request further information on the incident;

    (b) give regulatory advice or guidance to the reporting charity;

    (c) take such steps as it considers necessary to protect other charities, for
         example where the alleged perpetrator is also a trustee, or volunteers or
         works in another charity; or

     (d) require the charity to provide it with regular updates in relation to any on-
          going investigation.

The Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser should retain a record of all safeguarding Serious Incident Reports submitted, together with any follow-up correspondence and copies of any papers sent to the Charity Commission. The records must be stored securely, so that they can be referred to at a later date, if necessary. 

The Diocesan Secretary must send the DBF’s auditors a copy of all Serious Incident Reports made to the Charity Commission on behalf of the DBF.15

  • 15Reports made on behalf of a PCC under the PCC reporting guidance should not be sent to the DBF’s auditors

14. What if you need to update your report?

If, after the Serious Incident has been reported, you become aware of any material changes to the facts reported to the Charity Commission or further significant developments occur, you should update your report of the Serious Incident to the Charity Commission using the online form.  Where there is no live risk of harm etc, the update it may be, instead, be included in Tab 3 of the bulk report (see Section 9 above).

If an individual against whom allegations were made and which were reported to the Charity Commission as a Serious Incident is subsequently exonerated, or the allegations were found to be false or groundless following further investigation by the charity, police or other agency, the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser should also update the report to the Charity Commission.

15. Reporting safeguarding Serious Incidents to the NST

Once a Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser has reported a safeguarding Serious Incident to the Charity Commission, they must also email the NST at [email protected]:

    (a) a pdf of each Serious Incident report which has been individually submitted
         to the Charity Commission; 

     (b) a copy of each bulk Serious Incident report submitted to the Charity
          Commission; and

     (c) a copy of any follow-up reports made to the Charity Commission.

Providing the NST with this information will enable it to take a “Whole Church” approach by creating a national picture of safeguarding Serious Incidents. The NST will then be able to consider whether the House of Bishops’ Code of Practice and Guidance, and any other policies and procedures, may require revising, or further training may be needed, in order to address any concerns identified. 

The NST will consider whether anyone within the wider Church needs to be informed about any Serious Incident that has been reported and, if so, the NST will take the necessary steps to inform the relevant persons, complying at all times with any requirements to maintain confidentiality and to protect sensitive personal data.

 Further guidance on Serious Incident reporting can be found on the Charity Commission website.16