King's College Hospital Charity - Annual Report & Accounts 2020-21 - Flipbook - Page 19
Governance
Governance
Constitution and
governance processes
The Charity is registered with the Charity Commission
(Charity no. 1165593) and has been established in the
form of a company limited by guarantee (Company No.
09987908). Its governance arrangements are set out
in its memorandum and articles of association. The
Trustees are therefore both charity trustees as a matter
of charity law and company directors as a matter of
company law.
The Charity came into being on 1st April 2016 when
it received a transfer of the assets and funds of a
previous charity with the same name regulated by the
Department of Health. The mission remains the same
as that of its predecessor, that is to work for the benefit
of patients and service users of the Trust across all
its sites, and the Trustees and staff continue to work
closely with the Board, managers and clinical staff
across the Trust to develop and deliver our plans.
A legally binding deed between the Trust and the
Charity recognises the Charity’s independence and
confirms that transfers of all charitable donations
received by the Trust will be transferred to the Charity.
A memorandum of understanding between the two
organisations sets out the partnership principles which
underpin our collaboration in the interests of NHS
patients and service users.
The Trustees’ activities are principally governed by the
Charities Act of 2011 and the Companies Act 2006.
The Trustees confirm that they have taken into
account the Charity Commission’s Guidance on ‘public
benefit’ (including the guidance ‘public benefit:
running a charity (PB2)) in reviewing the Charity’s
strategic objectives; setting their grant-giving policies
for 2019/20 and planning their future activities. The
Trustees are committed to ensuring that NHS patients
are the ultimate beneficiaries from their grant giving.
King’s College Hospital Charity owns 100% of the
issued ordinary share capital of KCH Trading Limited, a
company incorporated in England and Wales (Company
Registration Number 11881179). The company was
incorporated on 13th March 2019. The principal activity
of the subsidiary is to manage the trading activities of
King’s College Hospital Charity. The subsidiary has been
dormant since incorporation and throughout 2019/20.
The Trustees
The Board comprises eleven Trustees and there have
been no changes during the year. The maximum
number provided for in the Articles is twelve. Trustees
may serve for up to two terms of three years with
possibility of three by exception. New appointments
are made by the Board using an open recruitment
process. The Charity has three officer roles: Chair, Vice
Chair, and Treasurer, all appointed by the Board.
Under the terms of the Charity’s memorandum and
articles of association, two Trustees may be nominated
by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
During the 2019/20 financial year these were: Professor
Julia Wendon, Medical Director, and Christopher
Stooke, Non-Executive Director. Christopher Stooke
stepped down as a Non-Executive Director of the FT
on 18 June 2019 and will be re-elected to the Charity’s
Board as an independent Trustee.
The Board of Trustees met four times during the year.
In addition, there are two sub-committees of Trustees:
the Finance, Audit & Investment Committee which
met four times, and a Governance, Nominations and
Remuneration Committee which met three times.
In 2019/20 an independent governance review was
commissioned by the Board. The review concluded that
the governance processes were very strong in many
areas, particularly given the size of the Charity and
its relatively recent move to independence. A number
of recommendations were made and are being taken
forward with assigned timescales for implementation.
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