A new, refreshed Charity Governance Code launched today in England and Wales.

The Code was first published in 2017. It is not legally binding, but aims to express ‘best practice’ core principles and governance goals for charity trustees, and has been widely adopted across the sector, with the backing of the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The Code is reviewed every three years.

With regard to Safeguarding, the Code recommends

3.7 Ensuring the right to be safe

• Trustees understand their safeguarding responsibilities and meet the legal minimum to promote a culture in which everyone feels safe and respected.
  [NB Large charities are expected to go beyond the legal minimum.]
   

Where appropriate:

• the board makes sure that there are appropriate and regularly reviewed safeguarding policies and procedures
• as part of a charity’s risk-management process, the board checks key safeguarding risks carefully and records how these are managed
• all trustees, staff, volunteers and people who work with the charity have information or training on the safeguarding policy, so they understand it, know how to speak up and feel comfortable raising concerns.