This report has shared a range of insights and ideas on strengthening leadership, safeguarding and governance – both to drive measurable improvements in services and that allow charities to demonstrate to regulators that their services are safe and well-led.
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Place more emphasis on staff retention. Charity trustees say a high turnover of workers and volunteers can make safeguarding training seem a wasted investment.
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Dedicate time to review or implement good safeguarding practices. A lack of money from commissioners to enable the purchase of safeguarding training and invest in reporting systems is also a concern.
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A more joined-up approach from the Charity Commission and the CQC. Charities currently have to duplicate the information they are required to provide and ask for more clarity around what is commonly seen as a serious incident.
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Focus on board diversity. A board needs a range of life experiences and to be continuously engaging with staff, clients and service users to get their feedback. Lack of diversity on boards encourages an inability to see issues from different perspectives.
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Identify and nurture good leaders. This needs to happen at every level of the organisation, giving them freedom to work autonomously and the confidence to report positives and negatives.
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Where things have gone wrong, it is vital to be open and honest. This must be seen to be done in a timely and appropriate manner.
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Instigate a review to understand what went wrong. Apply that learning across the organisation to prevent a repeat. An independent review can be especially useful. Where changes are made following a review, they must be with the approval of staff and users and their families.
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