King's College Hospital Charity - Annual Report & Accounts 2020-21 - Flipbook - Page 20
Governance
The most important recommendations included an
endorsement of the strategy development process,
which had recently been started, including the
development of strategic priorities; areas of focus;
a shared set of values and strong connections with
beneficiaries and other stakeholders. Good progress
has been made so far against those timescales. As a
result of this review, the annual effectiveness reviews
of the Board Committees were deferred as many
aspects of these reviews had already been addressed.
A skills and diversity audit was also carried out during
2019/20.
All new Trustees are given appropriate induction into their
responsibilities as a trustee, as laid down in the Charity
Commission’s guidance and are also provided with
information on the Charity and the Foundation Trust.
All Trustees give of their time freely and no Trustee
remuneration was paid in the year nor were any
expenses claimed by Trustees. Trustees are required
to declare all relevant interests and withdraw from
decisions where a conflict of interest arises. The Board
keeps a register of interests for trustees and senior
staff and the details of related party transactions are
disclosed in Note 6 of the financial statements.
Responsibility for managing the Charity on a day to day
basis is delegated to the Chief Executive. The Charity’s
Governance Framework sets out how these powers are
delegated, and defines limits of authority for approval
of financial transactions.
Governance Framework
The Charity’s Governance Framework sets out:
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The role of the Board of Trustees and an annual
board schedule;
Process for board recruitment;
Job descriptions for officers and process for their
appointment;
Arrangements for the conduct of board meetings;
Scheme of reservation and delegation;
K I N G’ S CO L L E G E H O S P I TA L C H A R I T Y A N N UA L R E P O R T A N D A CCO U N T S 2 01 9/ 2 0
Committee structure and terms of reference;
Policies and procedures for financial management,
performance and risk management;
Governance policies including Conflict of Interest,
Trustee Code of Conduct;
Policies for governance review and development
including skills and diversity audit and individual
and collective appraisal.
The Trustees recognise that good governance in charities
is fundamental to success and enables compliance with
the law and relevant regulations and believes that is has
robust governance processes appropriate for the size and
activities of the organisation. The “Charity Governance
Code for larger charities” sets out best practice principles
and recommended practices and the Board will continue
to review its governance processes by reference to the
Code as it develops and grows its activities in accordance
with its strategy. There are a number of priorities agreed
in the Charity’s strategic plan which will also address
recommended practice set out in the Code. These are:
1 Ensuring the charity’s key policies and procedures
continue to support, and are adequate for, the
delivery of the Charity’s aims and in particular the
development of its fundraising activities;
2 Evaluating the Charity’s impact by measuring and
assessing results, outputs and outcomes; and
3 Developing a more comprehensive process for
ensuring regular communication with the Charity’s
stakeholders, including its beneficiaries.
Pay policy for senior staff
The salary levels of senior staff are set based
on reviews of comparable positions in other
voluntary organisations of similar scale and
complexity based in London and approved by
members of the Governance, Nominations and
Remuneration Committee. The Charity also
makes pension contributions up to a defined
level into personal pension funds. Reviews are
carried out annually of salary levels and the
annual inflation award determined using relevant
benchmarking information. The remuneration of
the Chief Executive is determined by the Chair in
conjunction with the Vice Chair and Treasurer.