Over the last year, we’ve proactively been in touch with the Charity Commission about issues regarding the governance of BACP.
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 BACP.
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 to questions they raised.
The Commission has said this evidence has “provided assurance on their governance of the charity, and how trustees have strengthened many policies and procedures, including as a result of the concerns raised.”
It added: “Overall, 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.”
In concluding their investigation, the Commission recommended we review and renew our Articles of Association – the fundamental principles by which BACP is organised and governed - to ensure they remain relevant for the present day.
A working group had already been convened by Trustees for this purpose. We’ll 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.
As a Board, we recognise that the past few years have been an incredibly challenging time for BACP and for those who support our work, including our current and former trustees, volunteers , staff and members. It’s important that we continue to learn from this past.
We are pleased that the Commission has confidence in how BACP is now being governed.
As we hope the outcome of this investigation demonstrates, we remain committed to building a more robust governance framework and importantly, rebuilding trust with our members.
We’ll be working in close partnership with the CEO, the leadership team, and every member of staff at BACP as we continue to advance our charitable objectives: raising the standards of therapy and strengthening public understanding of the transformative impact it can have.
BACP Board of Governors