Issues for trustees to consider include:

• How to hold meetings and make decisions
• How to identify any risks to your charity, including financial risks
• How to safeguard your beneficiaries, staff and volunteers
• How to support employees with social distancing measures and potentially those who may have to self-isolate
• How to discuss any disruption to services and projects with funders

WCVA will be providing a daily update for the sector with the latest news: COVID-19 updates and guidance

Trustees can also access support locally from the county voluntary councils (CVCs)

You can contact WCVA with any general governance enquiries by email governance(at)wcva.cymru

If you have concerns about safeguarding, please contact our safeguarding service safeguarding(at)wcva.cymru

Many charity funders have said that they will aim to be flexible and sympathetic at this time, so we would recommend contacting them to discuss any potential disruption to funded programmes without to delay.

Here are some resources which may be helpful:

Dan Francis, Senior Governance Consultant at NCVO has blogged about Coronavirus and Governance. The blog includes a list of questions to think about and guidance on holding meetings remotely.

You can find guidance on specific topics below:

• Meetings – Charity Commission guidance
• Continuity planning – Charities facilities management group
• Risk management – Institute of Risk Management
• Charity Finances – The Charity Finance Group
• Employment – ACAS

Charity Commission guidance

The Charity Commission for England & Wales has stated:

We want to assure charities that our approach to regulation during this period will be as flexible and supportive as possible. Charities’ primary interest, and ours, must be looking after the public and the communities that we serve. Charities can feel confident that we will, where possible, act in a pragmatic way by taking account of the wider public interest during this unprecedented period.

Trustees can contact the Commission to ask for an extension on submitting their annual return if they need one.

If you need to get in touch with the Commission, you can call the contact centre 0300 066 9197.