What happens after we report a serious incident?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: not applicable — there is no equivalent report to follow up; see Step 17. Northern Ireland: partly covered — what CCNI expects from you, and its general assessment approach, are both confirmed below; its detailed stage-by-stage process is not, and neither jurisdiction’s publication practice is known — see below.

What does the Commission assess after a serious incident report?

The Charity Commission in England and Wales assesses two things: the incident, and how the trustees handled it. That changes how a report should feel to make.

This page assumes a report has already gone in. If not, make a serious incident report first. What counts is set out where you recognise a serious incident.

A prompt report, with a clear account of what the trustees did about it, shows good governance of the kind the Charity Governance Code describes. It is not an admission that something went wrong at board level. Reporting well is not the same as reporting a failure.

What happens next: acknowledgement, assessment, often nothing more

The Commission acknowledges the report. It looks at the report alongside the charity’s own response. It may then advise, ask for more information, or use its formal powers if the facts justify it.

Hearing nothing for a while afterwards is normal. It is not a sign that something has gone wrong with the report. The right response is to log the reference and carry on with your own work to put things right. Do not wait for a reply before finishing what you were already doing.

The Commission does not routinely guarantee to keep what you tell it confidential. It may pass what you tell it to other agencies where that is appropriate.

Will a serious incident report be made public?

The guidance does not say. This is usually the first question a worried trustee asks. Neither the Commission nor CCNI answers it in its published guidance. Their guidance does not say reports are published, and it does not say they are not. Neither this page nor any source behind it will guess.

What is confirmed: if an incident turns into a statutory inquiry, the inquiry report is published. For a report that never gets that far, no publication policy is stated either way.

Northern Ireland: the same assessment, in CCNI’s words

CCNI expects every charity, whatever its size or income, to report serious incidents. It is clear about honesty. Charities “must give full, honest information when you report an incident,” CCNI says. The annual monitoring return also asks trustees to confirm whether CCNI has been told about every serious incident.

CCNI’s current guidance on how it responds matches the position in England and Wales. This is CCNI’s own wording, not a guess based on England and Wales. “The Commission’s role is to ensure that trustees take appropriate steps to limit the immediate impact of the incident and prevent it from happening again. There may be no need for the Commission to take any action if it is clear to us that the trustees are effectively handling the issue.”

Where safeguarding is involved, CCNI expects more than the incident report. Trustees must also follow safeguarding law and their own safeguarding policies. In addition, they must:

• tell CCNI that an incident has happened
• tell CCNI what has been done about it
• assure CCNI that governance and controls are being improved where needed

What has been done might be an internal investigation. It might be contact with the local Health and Social Care Trust Gateway team, or a referral to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

What is not yet confirmed for Northern Ireland:

• how CCNI handles a report stage by stage, beyond the general approach quoted in this section
• whether a single report, or CCNI’s own response to it, is ever published (the same open question as for England and Wales)

If it escalates further

If the Commission does use its formal powers, see respond to a regulator query or inquiry. It sets out each power and what triggers it in full. They are not repeated here.

If it does not, the incident closes with the follow-up log below, and nothing further in this part of the guide follows from it.

Common mistake: assuming the report itself is confidential

The Commission does not routinely guarantee that what you tell it stays confidential. It may share information with other agencies. Whether a single report is ever published is a separate question, and still open. The section on whether a report will be made public explains why.

Worked example

Wrenfield Village Hall reports a fraud and hears nothing back for several weeks. That silence is normal. It is not a sign the report has gone astray. The trustees log the reference number and carry on putting things right. If the Commission asks for more information, they treat that as the next expected step, not a surprise.