Pyrford Village War Memorial Hall

Policies & Procedures

For the avoidance of doubt in these policies and procedures the trustees are responsible for the management of the hall through the Management Committee and the policies of the Hall are consistent with the Founding Document(s) of the Hall.

Table of Contents

1.Safeguarding Policy and Procedures

-The purpose of this policy is to promote the welfare of children and adults at risk from abuse or neglect in the Pyrford Village War Memorial Hall. This policy defines how the Trustees of Pyrford Village War Memorial Village Hall (PVWMH) who constitute the Management Committee operates to safeguard children, young people and adults at risk of abuse or neglect.

The Management Committee acknowledges that they have a duty of care and are committed to the protection and safety of everyone who enters the Hall premises including children, young people and adults at risk involved as visitors and/or as participants in all activities and events. There is also a duty to safeguard and support our fellow Management Committee members and volunteers.

The Trustees and Hall Management Committee recognise that there are stringent requirements to ensure that children and vulnerable individuals are not put at risk.  However, the Hall’s Management Committee role is limited to maintenance of the Hall and hiring out to regular and occasional hirers.  Thus, the responsibility lies on the hirers to ensure safety of children and vulnerable users during their occupancy of the hall.  The Hall letting terms will indicate that regular users are expected to have their own safeguarding policies.  Occasional hirers will be required to ensure that responsible adults, aware of the issues relating to Safeguarding vulnerable individuals, are in charge during the period of hire

1.1 Definitions:

Children and young people – are defined as those persons aged under 18 years old. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children – is defined as:

  • Protecting children from maltreatment
  • Preventing impairment of children’s health and development
  • Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.  asdf

Adult at risk – For the purposes of this policy, adult at risk refers to someone over 18 years old who, according to paragraph 14.2 of the Care Act 2015:

  • has care and support needs
  • is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect
  • as a result of their care and support needs is unable to protect himself or herself against the abuse or neglect or the risk of it. If someone has care and support needs but is not currently receiving care or support from a health or care service, they may still be an adult at risk.

1.2 PVWMH Principles

PVWMH charity is committed to the following principles:

  1. The welfare of the child, young person or adult at risk is paramount
  2. All children, young people and adults at risk have the right to protection from abuse
  3. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility: for services to be effective each professional and organisation should play their full part; and all suspicions and allegations of abuse must be properly reported to the relevant internal and external authorities and dealt with swiftly and appropriately. PVWMH requires that each user must take full responsibility for their own safeguarding procedures.

Contact details for relevant referral and support organisations are listed in 1.4 below.

1.3 Procedures

Management Committee will work together to promote a culture that enables issues about safeguarding and promoting welfare to be addressed:

  1. No members of the Management Committee, or other volunteers or contractors will have unauthorised access to children or adults at risk.
  2. It is the responsibility of the Hall user to notify the Management Committee of any safeguarding issue.
  3. The Bookings Secretary will ensure that all hirers of the hall are made aware of this Safeguarding Policy

1.4 Safeguarding References

  1. Child Protection Surrey County Council Children’s Services 0300 123 1610 (out of hours 01483 517 898)
  2. Local Authority Designated Office (LADO) 0300 123 1650: LADO@surreycc.gov.uk
  3. Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) 0300 470 9100: csmash@surreycc.gcsx.gov.uk
  4. NSCCC Child Protection Helpline 0808 800 5000
  5. Adult Protection Surrey County Council Social Care 0300 200 1005 (out of hours 01484 517 898) : contactcentre.adults@surreycc.gov.uk
  6. Vulnerable Adults Protection Action on Elder Abuse 0909 808 8141
  7.  Age Concern 0800009966
  8. Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) 0300 470 9100: ascmash@surreycc.gcsx.gov.uk  –  In the event of immediate threat or danger – Call the Police on 999 Further information and training provision can be found at:- Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership partnership.team@surreycc.gov.uk or Surrey Safeguarding Adult Partnership surreysafeguarding.adultsboard@surreycc.gov.uk

2. Serious Incident Reporting Policy and Procedures

2.1 Why this policy exists

Pyrford Village War Memorial Hall (“PVWMH”) is a charity, and its activities fall under the regulation of the charity regulator, the Charity Commission (“the Commission”). This policy covers serious incident reporting to the Commission as it relates to PVWMH. This policy provides PVWMH with an effective and easy to follow process that closely follows the Commission’s guidance.

2.2 Scope

This policy covers all activities of the charity and its operations. It does not cover or replace the charity’s obligations to report incidents to statutory authorities such as the police, health and safety executive or licensing authority that the Hall may need to do from time to time in the ordinary operation of its business. However, incidents that are reported to the statutory authorities can become relevant to this policy, if, for example, the charity is subjected to an investigation by a statutory authority or if it deems itself to be at fault and there is potential reputational damage to the charity as a result.

2.3 Background

The Commission states that it is vital that charities report serious incidents to the regulator to help it better understand risks facing the sector and take appropriate action. Whilst understanding that serious incidents will happen, it is the Commission’s role to ensure that trustees comply with their legal duties and that the charity manages the incident responsibly. The Commission will be looking for assurance that the charity has taken steps to limit the immediate impact of any serious incidents that may occur and, where possible, prevent it from happening again. The Commission acknowledges that many problems can be resolved by trustees themselves. However, sometimes it needs to use its powers to protect a charity. Reporting also means the Commission can identify whether other charities might be affected and can give better advice to all charities to help them protect themselves.

2.4 What is a serious incident?

The Commission defines significant as ‘significant in the context of your charity, taking account of its contractors, operations, finances and / or reputation’; and defines a serious incident as an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant:

  • Harm to the Hall’s volunteers, visitors and contractors.
  • Loss of the Hall’s money or assets.
  • Damage to the Hall’s property.
  • Harm to the Hall’s work or reputation

2.5 Categories of Incidents

The main categories of reportable incidents set out by the Commission are:

  1. Protecting people and safeguarding incidents – incidents that have resulted in or risk significant harm to the people who come into contact with the charity through its work.1.
  2. Financial crimes – fraud, theft, cyber-crime and money laundering.
  3. Large donations from an unknown or unverifiable source, or suspicious financial activity using the charity’s funds.
  4. Other significant financial loss.
  5. Links to terrorism or extremism, including ‘proscribed’ (or banned) organisations, individuals subject to an asset freeze or kidnapping of staff.
  6. Other significant incidents, such as – insolvency, forced withdrawal of banking services without an alternative, significant data breaches / losses or incidents involving partners that materially affect the charity.

2.6 Policy

It is the charity’s policy to report all ‘serious incidents’ to the Commission within 48 hours of the chair’s decision.

2.7 What we will report

The Commission makes it clear that it is the responsibility of the trustees to decide whether an incident is significant and should be reported. The nature of the Hall’s assets and activities mean that it does not deal with incidents on a frequent basis as part of its operations. To help, the Commission provides guidance in an Examples Table as to what should and should not be reported.

2.8 Who is responsible for reporting?

The responsibility for reporting serious incidents rests with the Pyrford Village War Memorial Hall Management Committee. The Management Committee bear ultimate responsibility for ensuring our charity makes a report and does so in a timely manner. All incidents, whether deemed ‘serious’ or not, should be reported in writing to the Chair of the PVWMH Management Committee immediately. All discussions and decisions taken will be formally recorded and then minuted at the next available Management Committee meeting along with any outcomes and further action taken.

2.9 Actions we will take in response to a serious incident.

If there is a serious incident the trustees will take the following actions as soon as is reasonably practicable to prevent or minimise any further harm, loss or damage:

  1. Report it to the Commission as a serious incident.
  2. Report it to the police (and / or other relevant agencies) if we suspect a crime has been committed, and to any other regulators the charity is accountable to.
  3. Put in place a communication plan for staff, volunteers, the public, the media, and other stakeholders.
  4. Review what happened and prevent it from happening again – this may include reviewing internal controls and procedures, internal or external investigation and / or seeking appropriate help from professional advisers.

2.10 How we will report

The trustees delegate formal responsibility for reporting those incidents deemed to be serious incidents to the Chair of the PVWMH Management Committee who will report them to the Charity Commission using its online reporting form. If the information provided is particularly sensitive or confidential or if a particular exemption applies, we will inform the Commission and explain our reasoning.

The charity is required, as part of its annual return to the Commission, to sign a declaration confirming there were no serious incidents during the financial year that should have been reported to the Commission. If incidents did occur, but were not reported at the time, we will submit these before we file our charity’s annual return, so that we can make the declaration and meet our legal reporting requirements.

2.11 Policy review

This policy will be reviewed annually or at such other regular interval as the trustees decide.

3. Health and Safety Policy and Procedures

This document is the Health and Safety Policy of Pyrford Village War Memorial Hall. Our policy is to provide healthy and safe working conditions, by ensuring the Village Hall and its equipment is maintained in a safe condition for all users. The Village Hall Management Committee complies with all relevant Health and Safety legislation and takes reasonable measures to prevent injury, ill health or any danger arising from activities within the hall or in its external areas.

From the Health and Safety Executive: ‘A Management Committee can be regarded as a legal entity under health and safety law, even if it doesn’t employ anyone and is only made up of volunteers’.

It has no responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act for risks created by the work activity of others, such as those maintaining the building, or for the activities organised by those who use the hall. However, where a Management Committee has control over the hall, they should take reasonable measures to ensure that the following are safe for the expected use:

  • the building
  • the access and egress to it
  • any equipment or substances provided there

3.1 Obligations

There is a duty on contractors, hirers, users and visitors to comply with this policy, with all safety requirements set out in hiring agreements and with safety notices on the premises and to accept responsibility to do everything they can to prevent injury to themselves or others. Hirers and contractors should prepare their own Risk Assessments for their activities, where necessary. Should anyone using the hall come across a fault, damage or other situation, which might cause injury and cannot be rectified they should inform a Management Committee member as soon as possible so the problem can be dealt with.

3.2 Policies

  1. Inspections of electricity, gas, and safety equipment by appropriately qualified individuals will be carried out on an agreed schedule to conform to statutory requirements.  In addition, a monthly safety check will be carried out by a member of the Management Committee.
  2. A manual detailing location and details of all equipment in the Hall will be maintained and made available to Management Committee members and regular users. 
  3. Hirers shall be responsible for the safety of people during their period of hire of the Hall.  The Hall Management Committee shall not be responsible for any harm or injury except where caused by negligence on the part of the Hall Management Committee.

4. Complaints Policy and Procedures

This document aims to help you understand the complaints procedure managed by Pyrford Village War Memorial Hall Management Committee.

  • If you think we have failed to provide a satisfactory standard of service, please let us know.
  • Your complaint may be about the quality of the facilities, safety of the users, the handling of a particular situation or issue or any other matter.
  • We are committed to equal opportunities and take complaints about discrimination very seriously.
  • All complaints should be sent to the Bookings Secretary who will respond appropriately. 
  • We will take every complaint seriously and we will treat everyone who complains with respect and courtesy.

5. Internal Risk Management Policy and Procedures

Pyrford Village Memorial Hall (the Hall) will undertake periodic risk assessments and maintain annual insurance for the Hall buildings, contents (other than those kept at the Hall by hirers), 3rd party liability, and employers’ liability to include cover for volunteers.  By arrangement hirer’s equipment may be covered on request with an additional premium.

6. Bullying and Harassment Policy and Procedures

Pyrford Village War Memorial  Hall Management Committee encourages all users of the village hall to maintain good relations, and not use words or deeds that may harm the wellbeing of others.

Everyone has the right to be treated with consideration, fairness, dignity and respect. This contributes to an environment in which individuals feel safe to participate and to work or volunteer.

The PVWMH Management Committee will take seriously and investigate any allegations of bullying or harassment. Please report any concerns regarding bullying or harassment to a member of the Management Committee, who will:

  • Treat all incidents fairly, sensitively and in the strictest confidence
  • Listen to all parties involved in the incident
  • Investigate as fully as possible
  • Take appropriate action.  This may involve asking people to leave the premises and preventing future bookings or attendance at the hall for a fixed period of time or indefinitely
  • Record all incidents of bullying

7. Conflict Management Policy and Procedures

In the event of any unresolved conflict among members of the Management Committee this will be resolved first by consideration of the Management Committee in which the Chairman will have a casting vote.  Conflict with or between users will in the first instance be handled by the booking secretary with further consideration, if deemed necessary by the booking secretary, by the Management Committee in which case the Chairman shall have a casting vote. 

8. Managing Volunteers Policy and Procedures

Volunteers will be covered by the Halls insurance policy (see section 1). For cover to apply the volunteer must have been ‘authorised’ and under the ‘direct control of the Management Committee.  Volunteers must have been specifically asked to help in a specific way.  NB.  All members of the Management Committee are defined as volunteers. 

9. Use of Membership Data – Data Protection

Trustees and members of the Hall Management Committee will be asked to confirm in writing or by email what means of contact can be held by the Management Committee.  This data will be held as long as they remain trustees of the hall or members of the Management Committee but deleted when this is n longer the case. 

Contact details, postal and email addresses will be kept for Regular hirers in order to manage and invoice bookings. Similar information will be required of Occasional hirers to manage and charge for bookings.

The Village Hall Management Committee will only use such personal information referenced above to contact members and hirers or to communicate invoices where necessary.  Personal information held will not be sold or supplied to any other organsations or individuals and will not be stored on the web site. 

The only information, with respect to users, held on the website is “company/organisation” details and contact information provided by users if they want to advertise on the web site. No wording is put on the website without the hirers’ permission.

10. Campaigns and Political Activity Policy and Procedures

PVWMH does not undertake any political activity.

11. Social Media Policy and Procedures

PVWMH does not undertake any social medial activity.

12. Engaging External Speakers at Charity Events Policy and Procedures

PVWMH does not engage external speakers for charity events (we do not run charity events).

13. Trustee Conflicts of Interest Policy and Procedures

Once a year following the AGM all Management Committee members (Trustees) should declare if they have any conflicts of interest that would disqualify them from voting on any, particularly financial, issues.  They should also declare any conflicts of interest that arise subsequent to the AGM if these relate to any specific issue.

It is however recognised that any Management Committee members (Trustees) that have been put forward as representatives of their user group rather than elected at the AGM are there to further the interests of the groups that they represent.  The elected members of the Management Committee will have the authority to determine if they think that this should disqualify them from voting on any particular issue.

14. Internal Finance Policies and Procedures

14.1 Charging

  1. Charges will be sufficient for running, routine maintenance of the Hall and updating facilities required by users hiring the facility but it is not run for profit.
  2. The hall Management Committee shall review the hiring rates for the various facilities in the Hall at least once every 3 years, and more frequently if thought to be appropriate.  The Booking Secretary has the discretion to set appropriate rates for one-off occasions but may seek confirmation from the Management Committee as and when required.

14.2 Trustee expenses

  1. All expenses must be claimed through the Treasurer.
  2. All expense claims must be accompanied by receipts for payments made and summarised on the expenses form available from the Treasurer.
  3. Completed forms should be passed to the Treasurer for authorisation and action.

14.3 Financial Controls

  1. The Treasurer shall maintain a record of all income and expenditure. 
  2. Annual accounts showing a breakdown of income, expenditure, debtors and creditors, and movements in cash shall be audited and presented at an Annual General Meeting.
  3. The financial year shall run from 1st April to 31st March. The audited accounts will also be sent to the Charity Commission as part of the annual returns. 
  4. Accounts for the year to date will be made available to Trustees at each quarterly meeting of the Management Committee and shared with the User liaison Group afterwards. 
  5.  All expenditure is authorised by 2 officers.  Any significant non-routine expenditure will be discussed and approved by the general Management Committee.

14.4 Financial reserves

The Hall will maintain a minimum balance of £15,000 to ensure that it can deal with unexpected expenditure.      

14.5 Investing charity funds

The Pyrford Village War Memorial Hall policy is that funds will NOT be invested in this way.        

PVWMH Treasurer – Updated 19/04/2026