To provide leadership to the board and to ensure that trustees fulfill their duties and responsibilities for the proper governance of the SBA.

 

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To guard the long-term future of the SBA by ensuring that:

 

• the board sets the mission, vision, strategy and high-level (i.e. board) policies for the SBA within the powers and restrictions in its charitable objects and governing instruments;

• the board takes steps to monitor the performance of the SBA and to ensure that the SBA satisfies all regulatory and legal compliance requirements;

• major risks to which the SBA is exposed are reviewed regularly and systems are established to mitigate these risks without the SBA becoming risk averse;

• the SBA has a satisfactory system for holding in trust for the beneficiaries moneys, properties and other assets and ensure that moneys are invested to the maximum benefit of the SBA, within the constraints of the law and ethical and other policies laid down by the board;

• the SBA ’s financial dealings are systematically accounted for, audited and publicly available;

• internal controls and systems (both financial and non-financial) are audited and reviewed regularly;

• the board and the SBA are fair and open to all sections of the community in all the SBA ’s activities;

• the board and the SBA hear the voices and views of key stakeholders, especially beneficiaries.

 

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To ensure the highest possible standards of governance by ensuring that:

 

• the SBA has a governance structure that is appropriate to a charity of its size/complexity, stage of development, and its charitable objects and that these structures and the governing instruments are reviewed regularly;

• the board delegates sufficient authority to its committees, the chair, the CEO and others to enable the business of the charity to be carried on effectively between meetings of the board;

• the board’s delegated authority is recorded in writing by means of terms of reference for board committees, job descriptions for honorary officers and for key staff and the board monitors use of these delegated powers;

• the board has on it the skills it requires to govern the SBA well and these skills are utilised, and that the board has access to relevant external professional advice and expertise;

• there is a systematic, open and fair procedure for the recruitment and co-option of trustees, future chairs of the board and future CEOs;

• all members of the board receive appropriate induction, advice, information and training (both individual and collective);

• Trustees act reasonably, always act in the interests of the SBA and comply with the SBA’s code of conduct for trustees;

• the Board of trustees regularly reviews its performance.

 

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To ensure the proper and efficient conduct of board meetings by:

 

• chairing trustee meetings effectively, seeking consensus, balancing the need for full debate on key questions with the expeditious dispatch of business so as to reach clear and agreed decisions as swiftly as possible;

• encouraging all trustees to participate and to feel free to challenge constructively both the chair and the CEO;

• taking an active role in ensuring that Board agendas are meaningful and reflect the key responsibilities of trustees;

• ensuring that the CEO and staff provide the board with relevant, timely and accurate information in order to allow the board to discharge its responsibilities. This should include alerting the board to major risks, informing the board of current and future key issues including significant trends, informing the board about external changes which may impact on the SBA ;

• ensuring that board decisions are made in the best, long-term interests of the SBA and that the board takes collective ownership of these decisions;

• ensuring that decisions taken at meetings of the board are implemented;

• ensuring that that there is an annual programme of board and committee meetings, carefully structured agendas and high-quality briefing papers providing timely information and concentrating on governance.

 

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To support, and where appropriate, to challenge the CEO and to ensure that the board as a whole works in partnership with executive staff

 

To support the CEO by:

 

• ensuring there are clear and open processes for the recruitment (and if necessary dismissal) of the CEO, and for setting and reviewing the remuneration package of the CEO;

• ensuring that the board focuses on its governance role and does not slip incrementally, or otherwise, into the management role;

• arranging regular, but not over frequent, meetings with the CEO and by developing a very professional relationship with the CEO within which each can speak openly about concerns, worries and challenges;

• providing leadership to the CEO to ensure that the SBA is run in accordance with the decisions of the board and the SBA ’s governing documents and that there is clarity about the SBA ’s objectives at all levels;

• monitoring the CEO on behalf of the board (unless other arrangements are made), always remembering that the CEO is responsible to the board as a whole and not to any one individual trustee or sub-group of trustees;

• ensuring the CEO’s performance is reviewed regularly;

• ensuring the CEO has the opportunity for professional development and has appropriate external professional support;

• in partnership with the CEO, to agree respective ambassadorial roles in representing the SBA and acting as spokesperson.

 

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To make sure that the board understands and fulfills its responsibility to hold the CEO and the executive team to account by ensuring that:

 

• when necessary, the chair and the trustees challenge the CEO constructively and only in the best interests of the SBA and as ‘critical friends’;

• the CEO is clear about the key performance indicators by which the CEO will be held accountable;

• the CEO understands their crucial responsibility to provide relevant, honest, timely, high-quality information and advice to the board of trustees;

• there are appropriate mechanisms, both internal and external, to verify that the board receives a balanced and honest picture of how the SBA is doing.

 

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To ensure the Board works in partnership with management by:

 

• ensuring through the CEO, that the staff understand the role of the board and that the CEO provides an effective channel of communication between the board and staff;

• ensuring that staff are aware of the board’s appreciation of their successes and hard work;

• ensuring that, through the CEO, a performance evaluation process is in place for everyone in the organisation and that the SBA invests in the development of staff;

• ensuring that whenever practicable, trustees visit various sections of the SBA , attend events organised by the SBA and have informal opportunities to meet the executive, staff and (where appropriate and in accordance with safeguarding policy) with beneficiaries.

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