Carrs Lane Counselling Centre Ltd
Trustee Handbook
as at 26 October 2016
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Vision, aims, behaviours and values
3. Trustee/Directors' Duties at a glance – from the Charity Commission CC3 guide “The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do”
4. Charities and Risk Management - introduction from the Charity Commission guidance document - CC26
5. CLCgC Organisational Structure Chart – Sept 2016
6. CLCgC Communications Map – September 2016
7. Corporate Governance
8. Memorandum and Articles of Association – see separate document.
9
Carrs Lane Counselling Centre –
our vision, aims, behaviours and values
Carrs Lane Counselling Centre provides a professional, confidential and non-judgemental counselling service for those experiencing difficulties in their lives.
Vision and Aims:
ñ We are a registered charity that is supported by professionally trained counsellors who volunteer their time and expertise to help clients because they really care.
ñ We are a recognised, service provider within the community for nearly 50 years.
ñ Our counselling service is accredited by The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (an organisation that promotes high standards of practice within the counselling profession).
ñ Our counsellors receive regular supervision from experienced supervisors
ñ We ensure high standards and are constantly monitoring our delivery to provide an exceptional service.
ñ We do not charge a fee for counselling but we do ask, where it is possible, for a donation
ñ We offer one to one counselling for a wide range of problems, and also counselling for those experiencing difficulties in relationships.
ñ Our counsellors are able to draw upon many different counselling methods and techniques to help our clients, but we believe firmly in ensuring this is done from within a Person Centred approach.
ñ
Behaviours and values
Putting People First By:
◦ Working together
◦ Respecting and helping each other to improve what we do
◦ Collaborative decision making
◦ Respecting individuality
◦ Encompassing diversity
◦ Promoting equality
◦ Contributing to the overall vision and aims
◦ Looking after ourselves and others
9
1. Carrs Lane Counselling Centre – Introduction to the role and duties of trustees.
“Providing an Oasis of Calm in the Heart of the City for 50 years”
Who are we?
We are a counselling centre in the heart of Birmingham that is dedicated to providing a low cost first class counselling service to adults right across the wider West Midlands conurbation. We have been helping the people of our region for 50 years and we can assist our clients with a diverse range of issues. Although Carrs Lane Counselling Centre began its life as part of the The Church at Carrs Lane, it now operates separately from the Church as a registered charity/not for profit company, but is still regarded by the Church as being an important part of the Church's mission to the people of Birmingham.
What do we offer?
We offer a range of therapy options such as individual, relationships and group counselling. Our counselling service is accredited by the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP).
BACP require all accredited counselling centres to commit to very high standards of operation and the Carrs Lane Counselling Centre is regarded as Gold standard by many Birmingham general practitioners who signpost their patients to us.
The centre employs a manager and around 50 volunteer members who are trained counsellors and/or supervisors. Counselling is offered at a minimum charge of £5.00 per session, to everyone, but those who can afford to, are asked to donate more as a contribution towards the running costs, and clients who are tax payers are invited to complete a gift aid form so that the Charity can claim 25% from the Inland Revenue. .
You will find in this folder copies of the Charity Commission statements regarding the role of trustees as well as our particular documentation, including the Memorandum and Articles of Association., which sets out the structure of the board of trustees, which is made up of trustees elected by the counselling centre members as well as trustees appointed by the elders of The Church at Carrs Lane.
Trustees meet at the counselling centre bi-monthly, currently on a Tuesday evening, but occasionally may need to meet in intervening months if there is urgent business to conduct. There is also the Annual General Meeting (AGM), normally held on a Saturday in the Autumn.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information.
Andrew Veitch. Chair of trustees.
September 2016
2. Carrs Lane Counselling Centre Ltd
Trustee/Directors' Duties as at 28/09/2016
CC3 - “The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do”
Section 2. Trustees’ duties at a glance
2. Trustees’ duties at a glance
This is a summary of trustees’ main legal responsibilities, which are explained in detail in the rest of this guidance. You should read this section as a minimum, and ensure you fully understand your responsibilities by referring to the rest of the guidance as necessary.
2.1 Before you start - make sure you are eligible to be a charity trustee
You must be at least 16 years old to be a trustee of a charity that is a company or a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), or at least 18 to be a trustee of any other charity.
You must be properly appointed following the procedures and any restrictions in the charity’s governing document.
You must not act as a trustee if you are disqualified under the Charities Act, including if you:
ñ have an unspent conviction for an offence involving dishonesty or deception (such as fraud)
ñ are bankrupt or have entered into a formal arrangement (e.g. an individual voluntary arrangement)
ñ have been removed as a company director or charity trustee because of wrongdoing
There are further restrictions for charities that help children or vulnerable people – see below.
3.1.4 Working with children and vulnerable adults
Some people are barred by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) from specified kinds of work involving contact with children or vulnerable adults (‘regulated activity’). It is illegal for a barred person to apply for a regulated activity (paid or voluntary). It is illegal for a charity to knowingly employ a barred person in such work. A charity must check with the DBS before employing someone working in a regulated activity
2.2 Ensure your charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit
You and your co-trustees must make sure that the charity is carrying out the purposes for which it is set up, and no other purpose. This means you should:
ñ ensure you understand the charity’s purposes as set out in its governing document
ñ plan what your charity will do, and what you want it to achieve
ñ be able to explain how all of the charity’s activities are intended to further or support its purposes
ñ understand how the charity benefits the public by carrying out its purposes
Spending charity funds on the wrong purposes is a very serious matter; in some cases trustees may have to reimburse the charity personally.
See section 4 for more information.
2.3 Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law
You and your co-trustees must:
ñ make sure that the charity complies with its governing document
ñ comply with charity law requirements and other laws that apply to your charity
You should take reasonable steps to find out about legal requirements, for example by reading relevant guidance or taking appropriate advice when you need to.
2.4 Act in your charity’s best interests
You must:
ñ do what you and your co-trustees (and no one else) decide will best enable the charity to carry out its purposes
ñ with your co-trustees, make balanced and adequately informed decisions, thinking about the long term as well as the short term
ñ avoid putting yourself in a position where your duty to your charity conflicts with your personal interests or loyalty to any other person or body
ñ not receive any benefit from the charity unless it is properly authorised and is clearly in the charity’s interests; this also includes anyone who is financially connected to you, such as a partner, dependent child or business partner
2.5 Manage your charity’s resources responsibly
You must act responsibly, reasonably and honestly. This is sometimes called the duty of prudence. Prudence is about exercising sound judgement. You and your co-trustees must:
ñ make sure the charity’s assets are only used to support or carry out its purposes
ñ avoid exposing the charity’s assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk
ñ not over-commit the charity
ñ take special care when investing or borrowing
ñ comply with any restrictions on spending funds or selling land
You and your co-trustees should put appropriate procedures and safeguards in place and take reasonable steps to ensure that these are followed. Otherwise you risk making the charity vulnerable to fraud or theft, or other kinds of abuse, and being in breach of your duty.
See section 7 for more information.
2.6 Act with reasonable care and skill
As someone responsible for governing a charity, you:
ñ must use reasonable care and skill, making use of your skills and experience and taking appropriate advice when necessary
ñ should give enough time, thought and energy to your role, for example by preparing for, attending and actively participating in all trustees’ meetings
2.7 Ensure your charity is accountable
You and your co-trustees must comply with statutory accounting and reporting requirements. You should also:
ñ be able to demonstrate that your charity is complying with the law, well run and effective
ñ ensure appropriate accountability to members, if your charity has a membership separate from the trustees
ñ ensure accountability within the charity, particularly where you delegate responsibility for particular tasks or decisions to staff or volunteers
You must read the whole of the Charity Commission guidance document - CC3
“The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do”
3. Charities and Risk Management
3.1 What is this guidance about?
Charity trustees should regularly review and assess the risks faced by their charity in all areas of its work and plan for the management of those risks. Risk is an everyday part of charitable activity and managing it effectively is essential if the trustees are to achieve their key objectives and safeguard their charity's funds and assets.
This guidance outlines the basic principles and strategies that can be applied to help charities manage their risks. It should help trustees set a risk framework that allows them to:
identify the major risks that apply to their charity
make decisions about how to respond to the risks they face
make an appropriate statement regarding risk management in their annual report
The risks that a charity faces depend very much on the size, nature and complexity of the activities it undertakes, and also on its finances. As a general rule, the larger and more complex or diverse a charity's activities are, the more difficult it will be for it to identify the major risks that it faces and put proper systems in place to manage them. This means that the risk management process will always need to be tailored to fit the circumstances of each individual charity, focusing on identifying the major risks. Trustees of large, complex charities may need to explore risk more fully than the outline given here.
The main body of the guidance covers:
ñ an overview of the reasons for and the processes involved in risk management
ñ the legal requirement for trustees to make a risk management statement in their annual report, and what that statement must contain
ñ a model of risk management to help charities work through the process. This section is intended to be of particular interest to those actually carrying out or involved in the identification and management of a charity's exposure to risk
Annex 1 contains a risk register template with examples of how it can be used and Annex 2 gives examples of the most common risk areas for charities, their potential impact and the possible steps to mitigate them.
3.2 Previous guidance
This guidance has been updated to include current thinking in models for assessing risk and to draw attention to the distinction between risks that arise from a financial situation and risks arising in other ways that can be seen as non-financial, even if ultimately they have a financial impact. There is no change to the regulatory requirements for charities
You must read the whole of the Charity Commission guidance document - CC26
Charities and Risk Management
4. CLCC Draft Organisational Structure Chart – Sept 2016
5 CLCC Draft Communications Map – September 2016
6 Corporate Governance by the Trustees – what it involves
A. Corporate Governance - General operations.
1. Finance Planning - incl monitoring risks & internal audit, investments, reserves.
2. Facilities, property & equipment.
3a. Human Resource managing – non counselling paid and volunteer staff contracts, performance, appraisals, pay levels, equal ops, etc
3b. HR - counsellors, supervisors, trainers and mentors contracts, performance, appraisals, pay levels, equal ops, etc
4. Compliance – operational – VAT, PAYE, tax returns, audit processes, HASAW.
5. Review board of trustee performance - efficiency, skills analysis and ability to carry out their role
B Impact Governance - Counselling Operations
1. Service standards
2. Monitoring quality of all aspects of service provision.
3. Recruitment, retention, training & education of all counsellors
4. Dealing with complaints – from clients, counsellors and staff.
5. Whistle blowing – at all levels