Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest can happen for forums and it is import to understand how to manage these.

All those leading a forum have a duty to act in the best interests of the forum. A conflict of interest is any situation where an individual’s personal interests, or loyalties, could be seen to prevent the person from making a decision in the best interests of the forum.  Forums need to have a clear conflict of interests policy in place. This should support them to ensure their decision making is in the best interests of the forum and any conflicts of interests are managed effectively.   

Conflicts of interest can present themselves in different ways and may be impacted by your structure.  There may be quite obvious circumstances, such as decisions in relation to paying someone on the board, or purchasing something from a company that a forum committee member owns. These examples mean a forum committee member is set to benefit financially from a decision they could be involved in.    

Forums face other types of conflicts of interest due to the nature of their role. Parent carer representatives work strategically to represent their parent carer community and influence services for improvements. Parent carers will of course have their own family and their own challenges and experiences.  In some cases, there can be a perceived conflict of interest if a parent carer representative is working on improving a service that would address an issue their own family is experiencing.   

Generally speaking, we suggest that parent carers in complaint or tribunal shouldn’t go to meetings that relate to the service they are in complaint with.  This is to protect the parent carer concerned from having to attend meetings with staff they are having to challenge.  This also helps to prevent any misconception that a parent carer representative is pursuing their own case, rather than representing the collective voice. It therefore helps to protect the reputation of the forum.   

Conflict of Interest disclosure 

Although an individual may not feel that there are conflicts, disclosure of relationships and interests that could be viewed by others as conflicts of interest enables a more transparent process.  

It can be helpful for forums to maintain a register of any potential conflicts of interest. Forums can ask members in a leadership or parent representative role to complete a simple form to declare these.   

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