Memorandum of Understanding 1. The trustees will: 1. Manage their affairs as laid down in the Trustees Handbook. 2. Offer help to Area Meeting and Local Meetings when asked. 3. Monitor the activities of Area Meeting for legal compliance and effectiveness. 4. Prepare and recommend to Area Meeting policies for reserves and investments. 5. Make investments after taking advice and following procedures as in the Treasurers Handbook para 12.1 p.111. 6. Prepare and recommend a Safeguarding Policy to Area Meeting. 7. Receive an annual report from each Local Meeting about the stewardship of the assets in their care and compliance with regulations as in this Memorandum of Understanding. 8. Prepare and send a timely Annual Report and Accounts to the Quaker Stewardship Committee and/or the Charity Commission. 9. Alert Area Meeting of any problems that may arise or have arisen. 2. Area Meeting will: 1. Record the membership of Friends in its local meetings. 2. Manage its affairs as laid down in Quaker Faith and Practice. 3. Hold regular Meetings for Worship for Business. 4. Decide Area Meeting policy by deliberations in its Meetings for Worship for Business. 5. Consider recommendations from the Trustees subject only to compliance with the law and prudence in the stewardship of assets in its care. 6. Reach and act upon a conclusion on any matter involving a significant principle or a significant financial matter only after consideration at a minimum of two Meetings for Worship for Business. 7. Appoint a treasurer who will record and report on the finances and investments of Area Meeting in accordance with the Treasurers Handbook. 8. Appoint a Safeguarding Co-ordinator. 9. Appoint Trustees 10. Nurture the pastoral and spiritual life of its members and attenders. 11. Ensure that effective arrangements are made for Eldership and Oversight in its local meetings and for the well being of all its members and attenders. 12. Ensure that worship takes place in its local meetings as described in Quaker Faith and Practice. 13. Work with the Trustees to oversee the stewardship of the assets in its care. 14. Receive an annual report from each local meeting about their life as a spiritual community. 15. Maintain records as evidence of prudent actions in accordance with Quaker Faith and Practice, with this Memorandum of Understanding, and with the law and regulations to enable future generations to understand the life of the Meeting. 16. Receive an annual report from each local meeting of the records they have kept. 17. Discern and support appropriately the Concern of any of its members as described in Quaker Faith and Practice. 18. Act as the channel of communication between its members and Britain Yearly Meeting. Page 1 of 5
3. Local Meetings will: 1. Arrange meetings for worship as laid down in QuakerFaith and Practice. 2. Hold regular Meetings for Worship for Business. 3. Maintain and manage the day-to-day affairs of the Meeting House in their care in accordance with the law, in accordance with all relevant regulations and with prudence in accordance with information in the Appendices to this Memorandum of Understanding. 4. Ensure that effective arrangements are made locally for Eldership and Oversight. 5. Send an annual report to Area Meeting of their spiritual life during the preceding calendar year. 6. Send an annual report to Area Meeting of the records they have kept. 7. Send an annual report to the Trustees of the state of their meeting house and compliance with laws and regulations as described in the Appendices to this Memorandum of Understanding. 8. Appoint a member, who may be the clerk, as verifier for DBS/CRB checks, who will also work with the Area Meeting Safeguarding Co-ordinator. 9. Send an annual report to Area Meeting advising the current status of DBS/CRB checks and safeguarding arrangements. 10. Maintain records as evidence of prudent actions in accordance with Quaker Faith and Practice, with this Memorandum of Understanding, and with the law and regulations to enable future generations to understand the life of the Meeting. 11. Appoint a Premises Committee (if appropriate) and agree Terms of Reference with the Trustees. 12. When staff are employed or volunteers are engaged, appoint a member of the Premises Committee to take responsibility on behalf of Area Meeting for supervising these staff and their contractual issues, to ensure compliance with employment law, to keep the necessary records and to ensure that all payments are made in a timely manner. 13. Appoint a treasurer and if appropriate a Finance Committee who will record and report on the finances and investments of the Local Meeting in accordance with the Treasurers Handbook. 14. Regularly ensure that the daily management of financial affairs remains satisfactory. 15. Prepare budgets and maintain funds for expected cyclical repairs and renewals to the Meeting House. 16. Prepare, examine and send accounts to the Area Meeting Treasurer by 31 st March each year. 17.Discern and support appropriately the Concern of any of its members as described in Quaker Faith and Practice. Appendix 1. The Law The laws with which Area and Local Quaker Meetings must comply include:- Our own Governance Document or constitution Quaker Faith & Practice The Treasurer s Handbook The Trustees Handbook The Charities Act Financial Regulations Employment law Page 2 of 5
Health & Safety regulations Fire Regulations Local Authority requirements Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults Data Protection Appendix 2. The Annual Report from Local Meetings to Trustees Local Quaker Meetings must now make two reports each year. One is addressed to Area Meeting and should concern the spiritual life of the Local Meeting. The second report is addressed to the trustees and should concern legal matters and the stewardship of assets in the care of the Local Meeting. The second report must give enough information to demonstrate to the trustees that all matters are either satisfactory or plans are in place for them to become satisfactory. These should include: 1. what matters have the trustees asked or drawn to the attention of the Local Meeting and have these been dealt with in a satisfactory manner? Give brief details. 2. what records are in the care of the Local Meeting and are these both being maintained and being stored in such a way that they are safeguarded from deterioration and handover to the next custodian is done in a timely manner? Give brief details. 3. how does the Local Meeting ensure that personal details of and references to members and attenders are kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act? Give brief details. 4. have the electrical installation and portable appliances been tested and certified within the last twelve months? Give brief details such as the name of the contractor and the certificate number. 5. have the analyses of Fire and Health & Safety risks been reviewed for changing circumstances and approved during the last twelve months? Give brief details. 6. is the Escape Plan still relevant and is it posted on a notice board as required by law? Have members been reminded during the last twelve months to study it? 7. do arrangements for safeguarding children and vulnerable people remain satisfactory? Give brief details. 8. how do you ensure that stewardship or management of the various tasks that should be done in the Meeting House are systematically allotted and monitored? Give brief details about cleaning and completion of routine tasks and checks. 9. is the room hire policy written down and is it still relevant? Do all current users of the Meeting House know that they must arrange their own insurance for their own activities? 10. is the insurance of the premises in place and does it remain adequate? Give brief details including the name of the insurance company and the insured value. 11. have the surveys of the condition the premises and fittings external and internal - been undertaken and any remedial action initiated? (the survey must be done professionally every five years the quinquennial survey - but otherwise can be done by the Premises Committee itself). Give brief details of significant findings, progress or completion of any remedial work, work expected in the short and medium terms, and potential problems in the future. 12. Is there any need to revise the Terms of Reference for the Premises Committee? 13. has any gas boiler or heating system been serviced and certified as satisfactory as in the regulations? Give brief details such as the name of the contractor and the certificate number. Page 3 of 5
14. have the fire alarms and emergency lights been regularly tested? Give brief details such as the name of the contractor, certificate number and the nature of the routing check record. 15. have regular checks been made that the daily management of financial affairs remains satisfactory? Confirm and give the names of bank accounts held. 16. Have reports been sent to Area Meeting concerning records and DBS/CRB checks? 17. have all conditions and obligations to any employed or self-employed staff or workers been met and any taxes etc been paid? Give brief details. 18. does the Local Meeting actually do everything in a timely manner that it claims to or thinks that it does? 19. do you need any help, interpretations, support or guidance from the trustees? The trustees must then use the report as the evidence to the Charity Commission (or currently the Quaker Stewardship Committee) that all is well. Please give brief details of how each matter is managed. Appendix 3. Health and Safety Summary: The Health & Safety Act does not give a list of rules that must be obeyed. It recognises that the circumstances in which various activities take place are all unique to that activity. What may be considered safe in one set of circumstances may well be considered not safe in another. The law requires that for each activity, such as running a Local Quaker Meeting, systematic thought is given to the sort of nasty things that could go wrong and allow an accident and then to decide if, in the circumstances of the Local Quaker Meeting and its Meeting House, anything should be done to reduce the risk of an accident. In the case of most Quaker Meetings all that need be done has already been done Quakers are reasonably prudent! But a systematic review of potential dangers and precautions, if any, to reduce the dangers must be written down. The document produced is called a Risk Analysis and it is simpler to use a relatively standard format as a prompt and as a record. Activities outside the Meeting House may need separate consideration. Appendix 4. Fire Regulations Summary: Fire regulations are very similar to those for health & safety. For a fire to take hold in a Meeting House it needs fuel and a source of ignition. The Premises Committee must arrange regular checks that no sources of fuel, such as piles of waste paper or packaging etc., have accumulated anywhere in nooks and crannies in the Meeting House and that sources of ignition, such as cigarettes and electrical or gas appliances even the use of candles - are in good order. There must be an effective method of raising an alarm even if it is only shouting Fire! and effective signed escape routes. The findings must be systematically reviewed and written down and any action needed is taken. The document produced is, again, called a Risk Analysis and it is simpler to use a relatively standard format as a prompt and as a record. Appendix 5. Safeguarding Summary: Safeguarding is a relatively new requirement that concerns ensuring that children or vulnerable adults (usually those who rely upon carers) are, to our best capabilities, not exposed to the risk of being abused or taken advantage of by anyone who is put in a position of trust to look after or supervise them while involved in Quaker activities. Page 4 of 5
Appendix 6. Data Protection Act Summary: The Data Protection Act requires that any or all records with details about living members and attenders, including personal references in minutes and reports, are kept so that they cannot be used for any purpose other than that directly intended when the record was made; and that permission has been given for the record to be made. This includes data within information posted on web sites and Newsletters or sent by email that may be circulated outside the Meeting. Appendix 7. Local Meeting Finances The following is drawn from the Treasurers Handbook: The Local Meeting is responsible for: 1. Deciding, and agreeing with the trustees, the bank accounts that may be required and managing these as follows: 2. Banking all monies received into the accounts 3. Ensuring that there are at least two signatories to each account. 4. Ensuring that any cheque for an amount above a limit to be set from time to time by the trustees, or any direct debit or other transfer instruction, shall be signed by any two signatories. 5. Ensuring that the voucher or record authorising a payment identifies the signatories on the cheque. 6. Ensuring that no commitments are entered into unless funds are available. 7. Informing the trustees that appropriate insurance cover is in place and advising details of any damage, loss or injury that may result in a claim. 8. Making claims, as and when appropriate, through the Gift Aid scheme. 9. Ensuring that financial reserves are kept at an appropriate level: they should be sufficient to meet current and periodic expenditure without recourse to borrowing, while also ensuring that funds are employed for the purposes for which they were given. 10. Agreeing a budget for the period at the start of a new financial year. Note 1. (An extract new text as agreed in 2007 - from Clause 4.33 of Quaker Faith & Practice) Accounts of any financial activities must be kept in accordance with the general rules set out in 14.20 to 14.23 (of Quaker Faith & Practice) and the guidance given by the area meeting; they must be examined by an independent person (who must satisfy the conditions set out in 14.22) before the annual statement of accounts is considered by the meeting and, if approved, accepted and reported to the area meeting. Note 2. Local Meetings are obliged, by clause 5.1.1 of Governance Document No 2., to seek authorisation by Trustees for the opening and closing of bank accounts. The trustees hereby confirm that they authorise all existing bank accounts in existence when this MoU was signed; but require to be notified, with explanation, before any change is made in future. Draft by Peter Elliott, Recommended to Area Meeting by Trustee Minute 14/05 27 th March 2014. Draft further revised after Meeting of Clerks on 8 th July 2014 Adopted by AM 13 July 14 minute14/48. Page 5 of 5