Transparency data

Appendix 3: Levels of delegated authority

Updated 25 October 2023

Applies to England and Wales

1. Rationale

1.1 A limited number of decisions are reserved to the Commission in line with its responsibilities for ensuring that the Commission fulfils its statutory objectives, general functions and duties and appropriately exercises the legal powers vested in it, under the Charities Act 2011 and other legislation. All other decisions (apart from those delegated to the Chief Executive) are made by the committee called the Board.

1.2 The majority of operational decisions are delegated to the Chief Executive, in line with his or her responsibilities for managing the organisation in accordance with the strategic, planning and budgetary parameters and risk management strategy, as approved by the Board.

1.3 The Commission’s quasi-judicial powers are delegated by the Commission through the Chief Executive to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and staff designated as duly authorised members of staff of the Commission (in accordance with current statute).

2. Escalation to the Board

2.1 There are some issues on which the Board seeks early warning or dialogue, or on which the Executive may seek the Board’s steer and/or input.

2.2 An agreed approach to risk assessment and management is used to identify high risk and or high impact issues or cases that require early flagging and possible escalation to the board. These include the high-risk issues identified in the governance framework.

2.3 Escalation ensures that the Board is made aware and kept informed of high risk issues and enables it to explore issues with the Chief Executive and ELT and exercise discretion as to whether or not it may need to approve decisions/action formally, including through the Casework Risk Committee.

2.4 This process may also help to identify any policy issues arising from new, difficult or contentious decisions; for example, the outcome of some decision reviews may precipitate a review of Commission policy.

2.5 The extent to which the ELT will need to continue to flag/refer issues to Board Members will be reviewed and may evolve over time.

3. Table of delegated authority

3.1 This section outlines:

• decisions reserved to the Commission
• decisions reserved to the Board
• decisions delegated to, or which are the responsibility of, the Chief Executive and takes into account the requirement for escalation

3.2 The main matters the Commission has reserved to itself are:

• ensuring that the Commission fulfils its statutory objectives, general functions and duties and appropriately exercises the legal powers vested in it, under the Act and other legislation
• regulatory decisions, and decisions on policy guidance where these are considered to be high risk, high profile, or precedent setting
• appointing, monitoring the performance and approving the remuneration, of the Chief Executive
• establishing, and agreeing the procedure of, the Committee called the Board
• approving the scheme of delegation (which sets out the division of responsibilities between the Commission, the Board and the Executive).

Subject	Reserved to the Board	Delegated to – responsibility of the CEO
Corporate governance	Consideration and approval of aspects of the corporate governance framework, including principles of good governance, memoranda of understanding and appointments to committees, following the recommendation of the Chair.	All matters of organisational structure below the level of CEO. Delegation of authority to other Commission staff and preparation and maintenance of a comprehensive scheme of delegation for the organisation.
Strategy	Determining the overall strategic direction of the Commission. Consideration and approval of the Commission’s strategic plan. Consideration and approval of formal strategic partnerships with other organisations.	Preparation of the Commission’s strategic plan for consideration and approval by the Board, ensuring early consultation with the Board. Recommendations to the Board for formal strategic partnerships with other organisations.
Functions, powers and discretions (legal and administrative)	Strategic principles governing operational policy relating to the exercise of the Commission’s functions, powers and discretions.	Exercise of all the Commission’s legal and administrative powers and discretions in furtherance of statutory functions, subject to escalating any high risk/high impact issues in line with the sectoral risk management approach.
Corporate plans and budget	Consideration and approval of the Commission’s corporate plans and annual budgets. Variations to the approved budget where the variation would have a significant impact on the overall approved levels of income and expenditure.	Preparation of corporate plans and annual budgets in line with the Commission’s strategic plan, ensuring early consultation with the Board. Variations to the approved budget where the variation would not have a significant impact on the overall approved levels of income and expenditure. A financial variation shall be treated as significant if it involves incurring one-off expenditure of £1million+ or recurring expenditure of £500,000+.
Annual report and accounts	Approval of annual report and accounts, in conjunction with the Accounting Officer, and following a recommendation from ARAC	Drawing up the annual report for board approval. Drawing up annual accounts including the annual governance statement for Audit and Risk Assurance Committee consideration and Board approval. Signing the Commission’s annual report and accounts as the Commission’s Accounting Officer.
Corporate/operational performance management	Determination and approval of arrangements for performance management and consideration of regular monitoring reports.	Informing the Board of progress in achieving performance objectives and advising of any significant variance from the approved operating plans and budget. Informing the Board of any significant issues in the operation of the Commission.
Risk management	Approval of the Commission’s risk appetite, risk management strategy and risk framework, and consideration of reports of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, in conjunction with the Accounting Officer.	As CEO and Accounting Officer, maintaining the system of internal control and assurance framework within the Commission and providing the Board and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee with assurance on its ongoing effectiveness. Advising the Board and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee as to material changes thereto. Escalation of issues for consideration by the Board in accordance with the Commission’s risk management strategy.
People issues	Approval of significant changes to overall HR strategy and policy, including staff terms and conditions of employment, and structure of the ELT. The Remuneration and Appointments Committee will make recommendations to the Commission for determining the remuneration of the Chief Executive.	The structure of the ELT, subject to the Board approval. All appointments and other HR issues.
Significant publications	Approve the programme of significant publications. Approval, in good time before publication, in the case of significant publications, of the content including the key messages, and the plan for communication and implementation.	Identifying significant publications and propose a full programme of reports and other publications. Publishing significant publications in accordance with the Board’s approval.
Audit issues	Appointing both the internal auditors and approval of changes to auditors’ overall terms of appointment. Approving the scope of the internal auditor assurance programme. Setting the scale of fees for internal audit annually. Consideration of significant issues arising from the work of appointed auditors. (All of the above are subject to a full report from the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee to the Board at least annually.)	Responsibility for management of relationships with internal and external auditors. Reporting to the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and the Board matters of significance arising from the work of internal and external auditors.
Communication issues	Approval of communication strategy and plans in relation to matters of major public, political or reputational significance.	In consultation with the Chair as appropriate, signing off all press releases and other statements where the statement is on a matter of major public, political or reputational significance. Identifications of significant issues to be considered by the Board.
Commission administration	The cycle of Board meetings, the composition of Board agendas and approval of minutes of Board meetings.	Ensuring adequate resources are available for the functioning of an effective Board secretariat. Board Secretary to be appointed subject to Chair approval and to be provided with administrative support. Board Secretary to have the responsibilities set out in Appendix 4.