FPOL10 Handling and Banking of Cash and Cheques by Provide Community

Handling and Banking of Cash and Cheques

Version: V6

Ratified by: Finance & Investment Committee

Date ratified: 03/04/2024

Job Title of author: Director of Finance

Reviewed by Committee or Expert Group Audit Committee

Equality Impact Assessed by: Director of Finance

1. Introduction

The following procedure relates to arrangements for receiving, recording and banking of cash and cheques by the Group. It has been prepared in accordance with the Group’s Standing Financial Instructions governing the security of cash and cheques and other negotiable instruments.

2. Definitions

Fraud is where any person who dishonestly makes a false representation to make a gain for himself or another or dishonestly fails to disclose to another person, information which he is under a legal duty to disclose, or commits fraud by abuse of position, including any offence as defined in the Fraud Act 2006.

Bribery is the giving or receiving a financial or other advantage in connection with the ‘improper performance’ of trust or a function that is expected to be performed impartially or in good faith. Where the Provide Group is engaged in commercial activity it could be considered guilty of a corporate bribery offence if an employee, agent, subsidiary or any other person acting on its behalf bribes another person intending to obtain or retain business or an advantage in the conduct of business for the Provide Group and it cannot demonstrate that it has adequate procedures in place to prevent such. The adequate procedures that the Provide Group is required to have in place to prevent bribery being committed on their behalf are performed by six principles – proportionate procedures, toplevel commitment, risk assessment, communication (including training), monitoring and review. The Provide Group does not tolerate any bribery on its behalf, even if this might result in a loss of business for it. Criminal liability must be prevented at all times.

3. Counter Fraud

If any member of staff has good reason to suspect a colleague, patient or other person of fraud, bribery and / or corruption, involving the Provide Group, they should report their genuine concerns to the LCFS or Chief Finance Officer immediately. The LCFS will then decide on the next course of action and advise the member of staff accordingly. All calls are dealt with in the strictest of confidence and callers may remain anonymous.

Suspicions of fraud, bribery or corruption should be reported to the Local Counter Fraud Specialists on 01473 945843, Provide Group Chief Finance Officer or NHS Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line via an online reporting form: http://www.reportnhsfraud.nhs.uk/ or telephone 0800 028 4060. Further details including email addresses for those responsible can be found on the Provide Intranet.

Individuals suspected of committing an offence of fraud, bribery or corruption may be subject to criminal and/or disciplinary investigation, which could result in criminal and/or disciplinary action being taken, including prosecution and/or dismissal. For more information, please refer to the Local Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy or to the Provide Counter Fraud intranet page https://www.providecommunityplatform.co.uk/Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id =2254&SearchId=530713.

4. General

All staff whose duties include handling, collecting or holding cash or cheques shall be provided with a lockable cash box. The box must be secured in a safe or in a lockable cupboard or drawer. Access to the secure areas must be restricted to the staff concerned.

If a cashier is employed they should not generally be engaged in duties that involve the opening of post, raising of accounts or reconciliation of outstanding debtors.

5. Monies received

Post opening should be undertaken in the sight of other colleagues e.g. in a shared or open plan office. All cash, cheques, postal orders or other forms of payment should be entered immediately onto a Cash/Cheque Received Register (Appendix A) by the persons opening the post.

After the post opening is complete, another member of staff should certify on the Cash/Cheque Received Register that the entries are correct.

Monies received in person should be entered on to the Cash/Cheque Received Register and witnessed and certified by another member of staff.

The Cash/Cheque Received Register must be maintained with serially numbered pages.

Arrangements will be made for weekly collection or delivery of cash or cheques from other company locations within the Group

6. Income Sheets and Receipts

Any monies that are accepted must be entered on an Income Sheet. The income sheet can be seen at Appendix B and is also available in electronic format from the Finance Forms page of the intranet.

All income should be paid promptly into any branch of the appropriate bank. If the amounts are small, banking income within two weeks is acceptable. Where there is a large quantity of cash, where possible, two people should go to the bank.

Once the banking is complete, a copy of the income sheet must either be e-mailed to the finance shared service provider, or entered directly on to the local finance system as appropriate. The finance team can advise which option to use.

A line manager should, on a monthly basis, check that the income sheets, bank paying-in slips and cash/cheque received register match and evidence that a check has been undertaken.

7. Security

Officers will be nominated by the Chief Finance Officer as key holders for the safe/cash box, and the nominated person will ensure that the key is kept in a safe place at all times. The manager may agree back-up arrangements but remains accountable for the safekeeping of the safe/cash box and its contents.

If responsibility for the contents of a safe/cash box is formally handed over to another officer, a complete stock take of the contents of the safe/cash box along with a Safe/Cash Box Transfer form (Appendix C), signed by both officers, must be obtained.

Any available duplicate keys for safes/cash boxes should be held by responsible officers nominated by the Chief Finance Officer

The loss of any key must be reported immediately to the Chief Finance Officer and a written confirmation describing the circumstances leading to the loss must be made. Once a satisfactory explanation has been given, the Chief Finance Officer will authorise the issue of the duplicate key.

All monies received must be paid into the Bank, and must, under no circumstances be used for making payments, cashing private cheques, loans or topping up petty cash floats.

Unofficial funds should not be accepted for safekeeping.

Cashiers and any other officers involved in the receipt/collection of monies should always ensure that any potential income is not overlooked.

8. Discrepancies

In the eventuality of a discrepancy occurring between actual monies held and the amount stated in supporting records, a thorough check must be undertaken immediately to ascertain the source of the error, and the Chief Finance Officer informed immediately. The check should be taken from the point at which monies held were last reconciled to book records.

If the error cannot be found and the amount of the error is in excess of £10.00, the discrepancy must be reported verbally, if possible on the same day, to the Chief Finance Officer and must be confirmed in writing. Advice will be given on action to be taken to correct the difference.

Where the difference is not deemed to be significant but exceeds £1.00, a written report should be sent to the Chief Finance Officer and the excess/shortfall recorded on the cash/cheque received register. The sheet number of the cash/cheque received register should be included in the written report.

After the written report has been submitted, and after carrying out any checks considered appropriate, the Chief Finance Officer will arrange for the discrepancy to be reported for write off approval.

10.Appendix B – Example Income Sheet

Confirmation of cash balance/valuables/cashbox/other contents in safe/other secure container.

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

TEMPLATE: Stage 1: ‘Screening’

Name of project/policy/strategy (hereafter referred to as “initiative”):

Handling and Banking of Cash and Cheques

Provide a brief summary (bullet points) of the aims of the initiative and main activities: Provides guidance on how to record and account for cash and cheques received.

Project/Policy Manager: Director of Finance

Date: March 2024

This stage establishes whether a proposed initiative will have an impact from an equality perspective on any particular group of people or community – i.e. on the grounds of race (incl. religion/faith), gender (incl. sexual orientation), age, disability, or whether it is “equality neutral” (i.e. have no effect either positive or negative). In the case of gender, consider whether men and women are affected differently.

Q1. Who will benefit from this initiative? Is there likely to be a positive impact on specific groups/communities (whether or not they are the intended beneficiaries), and if so, how? Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”? i.e. will have no particular effect on any group.

Neutral

Q2. Is there likely to be an adverse impact on one or more minority/under-represented or community groups as a result of this initiative? If so, who may be affected and why? Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”?

Neutral

Q3. Is the impact of the initiative – whether positive or negative - significant enough to warrant a more detailed assessment (Stage 2 – see guidance)? If not, will there be monitoring and review to assess the impact over a period time? Briefly (bullet points) give reasons for your answer and any steps you are taking to address particular issues, including any consultation with staff or external groups/agencies.

Guidelines: Things to consider

Equality impact assessments at Provide take account of relevant equality legislation and include age, (i.e. young and old,); race and ethnicity, gender, disability, religion and faith, and sexual orientation.

The initiative may have a positive, negative or neutral impact, i.e. have no particular effect on the group/community.

Where a negative (i.e. adverse) impact is identified, it may be appropriate to make a more detailed EIA (see Stage 2), or, as important, take early action to redress this – e.g. by abandoning or modifying the initiative. NB: If the initiative contravenes equality legislation, it must be abandoned or modified.

Where an initiative has a positive impact on groups/community relations, the EIA should make this explicit, to enable the outcomes to be monitored over its lifespan.

Where there is a positive impact on particular groups does this mean there could be an adverse impact on others, and if so can this be justified? - e.g. are there other existing or planned initiatives which redress this?

It may not be possible to provide detailed answers to some of these questions at the start of the initiative. The EIA may identify a lack of relevant data, and that data-gathering is a specific action required to inform the initiative as it develops, and also to form part of a continuing evaluation and review process.

It is envisaged that it will be relatively rare for full impact assessments to be carried out at Provide. Usually, where there are particular problems identified in the screening stage, it is envisaged that the approach will be amended at this stage, and/or setting up a monitoring/evaluation system to review a policy’s impact over time.