Conflict of interest policy.
Trustees have a legal duty to act at all times in the best interests of the charity. They must not put themselves in any position where their duties as trustee do or might reasonably be expected to conflict with any personal interest they may have. This means that they must, at all times, carefully consider the issue, or a potential issue of a conflict of interest where necessary raising the matter with Chair of Sportability, so that any potential effect on decision making by the Charity is properly declared and eliminated.
Each trustee has an individual personal responsibility to declare conflicts of interest which affect them.
Furthermore, they must prevent the conflict of interest from affecting the Charity either by:
• not pursuing a course of action
• proceeding with the issue in a different way, so that a conflict of interest does not arise
• or abstaining from any involvement in that particular decision-making issue by the Charity
This latter course requires the conflicted trustees to declare their interest at an early stage and, in most cases, withdraw from relevant meetings, discussions, decision making and votes
Trustees:
• should formally record any conflicts of interest and how they were handled
• must, if they prepare accruals accounts, disclose any trustee benefits in the charity’s accounts