Serious incident reporting by charities: introduction | Practical Law

Serious incident reporting by charities: introduction | Practical Law

This video provides an overview of the Charity Commission's serious incident reporting regime.

Serious incident reporting by charities: introduction

Practical Law UK Video and Audio w-024-6260 (Approx. 3 pages)

Serious incident reporting by charities: introduction

by Mindy Jhittay, Bates Wells
Law stated as at 30 Apr 2020 • England, Wales
This video provides an overview of the Charity Commission's serious incident reporting regime.
It looks at which charities are required to report, how and when reports must be made and what constitutes a serious incident. It then considers the sanctions for failing to report a serious incident and what action the Commission might take on receiving a report.
This video is recommended viewing for all practitioners who advise charities and charity trustees. For practical tips on how to make a serious incident report to the Commission, see Video, Serious incident reporting by charities: practical tips.
Video chapters:
  • Organisations covered by the regime.
  • Reporting procedure.
  • What constitutes a 'serious incident'?
  • Prompt reporting.
  • Failure to report.
  • Does reporting protect charities from regulatory action?
  • Possible sanctions for charity mismanagement.
For a transcript of this video, see Serious incident reporting by charities: introduction (video transcript).
In the wake of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Charity Commission has issued guidance advising charity trustees that it is ultimately their responsibility to continue to report serious incidents using the regulator's current guidelines, and to continue using their judgement to decide whether an incident is significant in the context of their charity and should be reported.
The Commission has said that it will continue to prioritise those incidents that place individuals at risk, or incidents that have had a significant impact on a charity’s operations and therefore serious harm to the charity’s work.
For further information, see Practice note, COVID-19: private client FAQs: Must a charity make a serious incident report in respect of COVID-19?.