Vo l u n t a r y S e c t o r S u p p o r t

Policies & Procedures

PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

www.communityimpactbucks.org.uk Community Impact Bucks is a registered charity no:1070267 company no: 3508718

www.communityimpactbucks.org.uk Community Impact Bucks is a registered charity no:1070267 company no: 3508718

Policies & Procedures

Policies & Procedures.Policies and Procedures set out how your organisation or Community Group shouldrun. The Specific policies and procedures you need vary according to the size of yourorganisation and the services you provide.

Why you need written policies and procedures.The main reasons are:The Law: Some written policies are required by law. In other cases, such asrecruitment of staff or managing your finances, you will need to meet certain legalobligations. An equal opportunities policy and a financial policy can help ensure youmeet these obligations. Even your governing document will set out certainprocedures for holding meetings, keeping accounts etc. which your organisationmust follow.

Fairness: Community organisations want to ensure they are open to all potentialusers or members who might benefit from their services. A written equalopportunities policy can demonstrate your commitment to others and provide auseful basis for considering how best to provide services.

Resolving Disputes: Written policies and procedures can be referred to if disputesarise over the way a particular function is carried out or responsibility exercised.

Demonstrating professionalism: External organisations, such as commissioningbodies or funders will want to see that you have policies and procedures in place.Importantly, commissioners will want to see evidence, often asked for at PQQ stagethat you are regularly reviewing these policies. It’s a good idea to have key policiesand procedures as a regular minute on all board meetings; this will serve to showthat policies are being reviewed.

How to go about developing policies and proceduresThe easiest place to start is to get copies of model documents and adapt them.Community Impact Bucks can offer support to help you determine which policiesyou need to have in place and offer you support to develop these policies

Governing documentYour governing document is your most important policy document. It states yourobjectives, the powers your organisation has, the way your management committeeis elected and how the decision making process is conducted at meetings.

If you are going to register with the Charities Commission there are model governingdocuments required for different forms of legal structures. Further details can befound on page 14 of Community Impact Bucks guide to voluntary and communitylegal structures.

PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

www.communityimpactbucks.org.uk Community Impact Bucks is a registered charity no:1070267 company no: 3508718

Policies & Procedures

PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

If your income is below £5,000 and you do not intend to register with the CharitiesCommission you might like to look at our guide to completing your first constitutionwhich details area of governance such as membership and includes a sampleconstitution.

Standing OrdersStanding Orders cover procedural matters not covered by the constitution. They canbe useful as you do not need to change your governing document every time youchange the way you conduct your meetings. Standing orders allow you to expand onthe items contained in the constitution or governing document.eg. when you considerthe possible complexity of financial transactions within the organisation, you do notneed all that detail in the constitution, but the processes should be documented insomeway, hence a standing order. Standing orders can be used for a wide range ofprocesses in an organisation including committee procedures and how legal mattersare dealt with. The most important point is that they cannot conflict with theconstitution.

A range of policies and procedures are required to cover issues regarding thegovernance of an organisation and for the delivery of services and activities. Somerepresent good practice and others may be a legal requirement depending on thetype of organisation and the services provided.

Safeguarding PoliciesIf your organisation is working with children or vulnerable adults you will need awritten safeguarding policy including your CRB procedures and a clear system forrecording and reporting any concerns

• Safe Network - contains step by step process for writing and implementing aChild Protection Policy and Procedure

• Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board Provides information, support andguidance for groups working with children and young people in Buckinghamshire.

Vulnerable Adults Policies• Volunteering England has example policies for volunteer involving organisationsincluding a Vulnerable Adults Policy

• Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults has some information onpolicies and guidance

• Community Impact Bucks Example - Adult Protection Policy

www.communityimpactbucks.org.uk Community Impact Bucks is a registered charity no:1070267 company no: 3508718

PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

Policies & Procedures

Health and Safety including fire risk assessmentOrganisations with five or more paid staff are required by law to have a written healthand safety policy, although its good practice for all groups to have one. The policy setsout your responsibilities to staff, volunteers and service users. The contents of a policywill vary from group to group, depending on the type of work the group does and thepotential risks involved. In addition the current legislation with regards to fire safetystates that a designated ‘responsible person’ must carry out a fire safety riskassessment and implement and maintain a fire management plan

• Community Impact Bucks Example Lone Worker Policy

• Know How Non Profit - have a range of employment related policies includingHealth and Safety

• NCVO - have a whole range of HR policies including Health and Safety

Equal Opportunities (Equality and Diversity)Your equal opportunities policy should cover issues of fairness, whether to serviceusers, members, employees, volunteers, or committee members. Key areas are

Employment – your equal opportunities policy should cover all aspects of recruitmentand selection of paid workers to ensure the process is fair and complies with the law.You would also want these principles to apply to the recruitment of volunteers andcommittee members

Service provision – How you will publicise and provide services with the aim that allpeople who might benefit are able to do so and how you run them.

• Know How Non Profit - have a range of employment related policies includingEqual Opportunities

• NCVO - have a whole range of HR policies including Equality and Diversity

• Community Impact Bucks Example Equality and Diversity policy

Data Protection Policy (Confidentiality policy)All organisations that keep any information on living and identifiable people mustcomply with the Data Protection Act. The Act applies to computerised personalinformation and some manual records that may be held .It is your responsibility whencollecting the data to inform the individuals about how the information is to be used.

• Community Impact Bucks Example Data Protection Policy

www.communityimpactbucks.org.uk Community Impact Bucks is a registered charity no:1070267 company no: 3508718

Policies & Procedures

PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

Financial Controls PolicyYour financial controls will set out your policies regarding the financial controls youhave in place to enable you to manage your money. It would usually cover day to dayissues such as banking arrangements, procedures for ordering and paying for goodsand services, use of petty cash and trustee and volunteer expenses. It would also coverfinancial management issues such as preparing an annual budget and reporting to thecommittee on the group’s financial position.

• Community Impact Bucks Example Finance Policy

Complaints ProcedureComplaints whether justified or not are bound to happen from time to time. It helpsto have a standard procedure in use which is seen to be fair by all concerned. Typicallythis would include how service users can make a complaint and to whom it should beaddressed, the procedure for looking into the complaint and how the matter can bereviewed if the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome

• Community Impact Bucks Example Complaints Policy

Other policiesYou may also need to consider developing policies to cover the following subjectsif appropriate to your organisation.

- Use of IT equipment policy

- Volunteer Policy

- Communications Policy

- Conflicts of Interest Policy

- Induction and Training of Trustees

Once you have developed and approved your writtenpolicies and procedures

- Use them (don’t file them away and forget about them)

- Make sure that everyone who needs to know about them is aware they exist.

- Monitor their relevance and effectiveness ( if they are proving unworkablechange them)

- Review and update them on a regular basis ( say every 12 months) to takeaccount of changes in the way your group works , or changes in legislation,or new and more effective ways of working.