Vicky Browning, CEO of ACEVO says: “Having good policies and procedures in place is necessary to create the foundation of a safe workplace culture. However, as the Charity Commission report recognises, policies and procedures alone are not enough to create and maintain a safe, inclusive culture.
“The Charity Commission’s report echoes ACEVO’s own advice to charity CEOs published in July 2018 in our report on Leading with Values. To create a safe organisational culture, charity leaders should follow three key principles: being values-led, modelling ethical behaviour and nurturing a culture of continuous improvement. The Charity Commission findings also highlighted the importance of transparency and accountability.
“The purpose of its report on Save the Children was to look at how complaints had been managed, and if they had been managed in line with the charity’s policy. The report did not look at the complaints themselves. In its report, the Commission said: ‘The Commission cannot enforce healthy internal cultures in charities and nor can we adjudicate individual complaints by charity staff.’ This should be the beginning of a wider discussion about what additional regulatory role or support needs to be available in cases of bullying and harassment.”
