The Camphill Village Trust Policies and Procedures
Whistleblowing (Raising concerns and confidential reporting) Revision history
Version
Date
Author
Distribution
Status
1.0
11/9/12
FW
Approved by Board
2.0
November 2015
FW/MB
HJ
Approved by CEO
2.1
09/11/17
FW/MB
Policy group
Review
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1. Background – Why do we need a policy? 1.1 We are committed to the safety and well-being of the people who use our services and expect the highest possible standards of honesty and accountability. Whistleblowing is mainly for concerns where the interests of others and the charity itself are at risk. This may be because of bad or malpractice, abusive, unprofessional, unethical or unlawful conduct, or a failure to follow our policy and procedures. It is really important that any such concerns are raised with us. 1.2 You may feel speaking up would be disloyal to your colleagues. You may be worried that if you raise your concerns you will be victimised and put your position at risk. You may feel it would be easier to ignore your concerns rather than raise what may just be a suspicion. It is important to us that you do raise such concerns and that you do so without delay. 1.3 If you reasonably believe your concerns are true and raising them is in the public interest and follow this policy, it does not matter if you are mistaken and you should not be dismissed or subjected to any detriment for whistleblowing by any other staff member. In other circumstances, we may feel it appropriate to use our relevant concerns procedure in relation to your actions. 2. How do you raise a concern? 2.1 In the first instance, please tell your general manager or any other appropriate line manager in your workplace. We hope that you can talk about your concerns during supervision or in meetings. 2.2 If you prefer, you can request to meet with a manager from outside the community to raise your concerns e.g. Operations Director or Quality manager. Whistleblowing Policy 2.1
November 2017
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The Camphill Village Trust Policies and Procedures
2.3 However, if you have raised your concerns in this way and you are still worried, or if the nature of the concern is such that you feel you cannot approach it in this way, please raise your concern with the chief executive. You can do this by: emailing whistleblowing@cvt.org.uk or by writing to the Chief Executive, The Camphill Village Trust, The Kingfisher Offices, 9 Saville Street, Malton, North Yorkshire, Y17 7LL. 2.4 We will treat concerns about malpractice seriously. We will give careful thought to how best to respond to your concerns. We will contact you within a week to let you know how we intend to proceed and let you know when you can expect a further update. We will tell you about what we have found from looking into your concerns and what will happen as a result. 2.5 However, we may be limited in what we can tell you about other people as we may have to keep that confidential or because there are legal constraints. We will let you know how you can get support. 2.6 We will arrange for additional advice and support if you have to give evidence in criminal or legal proceedings or internally as a result of our concerns procedure being initiated. 2.7 If you ask us to withhold the fact you have contacted us we will respect your request for confidentiality and do our best to prevent you being identified as the whistleblower. 2.8 You can raise your concern with us anonymously but we would prefer that you did not as it can make it much more difficult for us to look into the matter and we are unable to acknowledge or clarify your concerns or advise you of action taken. 2.9 We hope that with this procedure you will not feel that you cannot raise your concerns with anyone within the charity. However, if you feel you can’t or don’t feel your concerns are being listened to and you reasonably believe making a disclosure would be in the public interest then you should consider raising the matter with the appropriate outside authorities. 2.10
Before raising any matter with outside authorities, you are advised to contact: •
Public Concern at Work on 020 7404 6609 or
•
the NHS and social care free whistleblowing helpline on 08000 724 725,
for confidential advice.
Whistleblowing Policy 2.1
November 2017
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The Camphill Village Trust Policies and Procedures
3. Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 This policy has been assessed using an equality impact assessment initial screening template in order to meet current equality requirements.
Responsible individual: Frances Wright Endorsed by: Approved by Chief Executive under delegated powers from the Board of Trustees Date of endorsement:
November 2015, reviewed November 17
Review date:
November 2019
Whistleblowing Policy 2.1
November 2017
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