Structure & Governance

Governing document

The organisation, which is also known as Kingston Citizens Advice Bureaux Service (KCABS), is a company limited by guarantee and is a registered charity. It is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

The directors of the charitable company ('the charity') are its trustees for the purpose of charity law and throughout this report are collectively referred to as the trustees. They are elected to the Trustee Board by the members of the charity at the annual general meeting and retire by rotation after three years in office. The chairman of the trustees is elected by the trustees. The trustees who acted during the year under review are listed on page 1. Council nominees are K J Davis, Cllr R W Lee and Cllr S Mama.

Induction and training of new trustees

New trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting, or are co-opted during the course of the year. They are given an induction pack of literature which confirms their role and responsibilities and they also undergo an induction programme in the bureau, and may attend briefing sessions run by Citizens Advice London Region. There is a Chair's network group London wide and occasional interest groups are also held -for instance to discuss pensions issues.

Organisational structure

A Trustee Board of up to fifteen members administer the charity. They meet up to six times per year and there are additional meetings of appropriate sub-committees (including Executive and Personnel) and working groups, as required. The Chief Executive of the organisation, Pippa Mackie, has been appointed by the trustees to manage the day-to-day operations of the charity. In addition, there is an experienced team of paid staff and a substantial team of volunteers who are key to the service offered by the charity.

Decisions are made by the Trustee Board, in line with the Business Development Plan which is reviewed annually and reported on quarterly to the Trustee Board. The Executive Committee meet each month to review progress against targets and to discuss issues referred to them by the main Trustee Board. Reports and recommendations are then taken to the full Board for approval, and their implementation is then organised by the Chief Executive and the staff team. The Personnel Committee meets quarterly and their reports are also brought to the Trustee Board for approval and implementation by the Chief Executive and the management team.

There are monthly staff meetings, paid team meetings and senior management team meetings which ensure that progress is being made against targets and also enable early troubleshooting when problems arise. Every year, there is an 'awayday' held which involves the whole staff team and Trustee Board. The focus of this varies -for example, methods of access to the service, funding strategy etc. - and the results form part of the ongoing Business Development Plan process.

Wider network

KCABS is a member of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (Citizens Advice), the national charity which sets standards for advice and equal opportunities and supports bureaux with an information system, training and other services. Operating policies are independently determined by the Trustee Board of KCABS in order to fulfil its charitable objectives and comply with the national membership requirements.

Related parties

In addition to its membership of Citizens Advice, the charity also cooperates and liaises with a number of other advisory services, local charities and Council departments on behalf of clients. Where one of the trustees is also involved with another relevant organisation, they may be involved in discussions about it but not in any decision-making process. Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2008

Risk management

Citizen Advice Anywhere has worked on a Corporate Risk Management exercise. A risk management strategy and risk register were agreed by the Trustee Board. The Trustees recognise that any major risks to which the charity is exposed need to be reviewed and systems put in place to mitigate those risks. To that end Citizens Advice Anywhere is continually monitoring and managing its risk, reviewing the corporate risk register and ensuring action plans are in place to mitigate its key risks. Included in external risks is that of the loss of funding. The effects of this have been minimised by the procedures in place, which have resulted in funding being secured from a variety of sources. The charity continues to seek to diversify its funding sources. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures for authorisation of all transactions and projects and to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the charitable company. These procedures are periodically reviewed to ensure that they still meet the needs of the charity.