England and Wales: Charity Commission advice for responding to Ukraine crisis

The Charity Commission for England and Wales have published this advice for charities wishing to respond to the Ukraine crisis.

Please also see this post on offering a home to refugees and the video of a webinar on charity duties when working with refuges.

What is a Safeguarding trustee?

All Triratna charities should have Safeguarding officers (as recommended by the latest report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse), but charities in England and Wales are required by the Charity Commission to have a Safeguarding trustee. As with the Safeguarding officer, this needs to be an Order member.

The Safeguarding trustee is responsible for

• keeping Safeguarding on the agenda for the trustees so they don’t just forget about it and leave it to the poor SG officer!
• making sure
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Safeguarding: not just children and "adults who may be at risk"

It’s a common misconception that Triratna charities only need to protect from harm children and those ‘adults who may be considered at risk’ (or ‘vulnerable adults’, a term no longer used).

However, everyone needs protection from harm. These days trustees are responsible for protecting all their beneficiaries from harm in the course of their charity’s activities. This is a clear requirement of the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Scottish Charity Regulator and the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission, to mention just three...

Safeguarding in Triratna: an update

Since 2015, ‘Safeguarding’ has become an integral part of the life of Triratna organisations in the UK, and indeed those in many other countries, even where Safeguarding as understood in Britain is unknown. (See below for an explanation of Safeguarding.)

All Triratna centres in the UK now have Safeguarding policies and named Safeguarding officers. Triratna centres in other countries are encouraged to do the same, or to do whatever is required locally; and many have done so.

Earlier this year Triratna’s Ethics kula...