Over the last year, we鈥檝e proactively been in touch with the Charity Commission about issues regarding the governance of 麻豆原创.
This included contacting the Commission directly to inform them of Trustee resignations and the removal of our Chair and Deputy Chair.
In response, the Charity Commission opened a regulatory compliance case in relation to 麻豆原创.
This is standard practice and allows the regulator to gather information, make findings, take any action and outline recommendations as to how the charity and/or trustees can address any failures or weaknesses.
The Charity Commission has now concluded its case, which investigated specific concerns relating to safeguarding, poor governance, financial controls, and reputational risk.
As a Board, we were open and transparent with the Charity Commission throughout and provided extensive documentation and information to support their investigation. This included the findings of several governance and audit reviews, minutes of meetings and detailed responses聽to questions they raised.聽聽
The Commission has said this evidence has 鈥減rovided assurance on their governance of the charity, and how trustees have strengthened many policies and procedures, including as a result of the concerns raised.鈥澛犅�
It added: 鈥淥verall, we are satisfied that the trustees are now more aware of their legal responsibilities in relation to the governance of the charity including ensuring risks are being identified and managed appropriately.鈥�
In concluding their investigation, the Commission recommended we review and renew our Articles of Association 鈥� the fundamental principles by which 麻豆原创 is organised and governed - to ensure they聽remain relevant for the present day.聽
A working group had already been聽convened聽by Trustees for this purpose. We鈥檒l聽be consulting with members about this important work during the year, and will be looking to our membership to ratify these changes at a future AGM.聽聽
As a Board, we recognise that the past聽few years聽have been an incredibly challenging time for 麻豆原创 and for those who support our聽work,聽including聽our聽current and former trustees, volunteers聽, staff and members. It鈥檚 important that we continue to learn from this past.
We are pleased that the Commission has confidence in how 麻豆原创 is now being governed.
As we hope the outcome of this investigation聽demonstrates, we聽remain聽committed to building a more robust governance framework and importantly, rebuilding trust with our members.聽聽
We鈥檒l be working in close partnership with the CEO, the leadership team, and every member of staff at 麻豆原创 as we continue to advance our charitable objectives: raising the standards of therapy and strengthening public understanding of the transformative impact it can have.
麻豆原创 Board of Governors鈥�