Legal requirements and best practice for forums

• Unincorporated association – consider this carefully as the members of your group could be directly liable if something goes wrong.
• Hosted groups may be covered under their host’s insurance. You would need to check your hosting agreement or Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU).
• Independent forums, Charities, CIOs – have a duty to protect their assets and resources. Although insurance is legally required, having insurance is one way to meet this duty. You may also want to think about insurance to specifically protect your Trustees. Read more on the gov.uk website and charityexcellence
• Community Interest Companies may want to think about directors’ and officers’ insurance, which is the equivalent of trustees insurance.

Legal requirement – this type of insurance is required by law

Good practice – even though it is not legally required we strongly advise having this insurance

Optional – you may not need this insurance but it is worth considering

• You hold in person training/meetings – assuming that any venue you use carries insurance for buildings, there is nevertheless a duty to protect those attending – a public liability – Good practice/legal requirement
• You have shared equipment (contents) – these can be lost, stolen or damaged – Good practice
• You employ people – you need to protect the forum’s employer’s liability – Legal requirement
• You rent an office – you need to check your responsibilities in your lease for the building – Optional (depending on lease agreement)
• You provide advice – those offering advice create a duty of care in doing so and this is a professional liability – Good practice
• You have Trustees or directors whose liability is not restricted by the nature of your organisation – they may need the safety net of protection against claims they made a poor decision – Optional

Public liability insurance helps protect forums if someone else claims that they harmed or caused them loss. Some policies may also cover legal advice so please check with your insurer.

For forums, this means if a member of the public sues them for injury, damage or loss of property caused by the forum activities, the insurance can cover the costs of compensation.

This insurance does not cover accidents or loss to the forum or individuals involved in the forum only to third parties (customers, suppliers or members of the public).

You could extend public liability insurance to protect volunteers working for you. You would need to discuss this with your insurance company.

This type of insurance is not generally a legal requirement, but unless you never hold any events, it is essential (except where hosted forums are covered under their MOU by a policy held by their host). In some cases it may be a legal requirement if you are, for example, renting a venue that requires you to have public liability insurance. For unincorporated forums it is particularly important as the liability would rest on the person who was running the event.

Example: A forum organises an event in a local park. During the event, a display falls on a parent carer causing them an injury. The injured person then decides to sue the forum for not ensuring the event was safe.
In this situation, the possible costs incurred could include the visitor’s medical bills and any compensation for their injury.

In this situation, the community group’s public liability insurance would help cover the costs of the visitor’s medical bills and any compensation for their injury.

When running events you should also think about Health and Safety and carry out risk assessments, see our policies and procedures page for examples and templates.

Please note that public liability insurance won’t usually cover:

• Accidents or damage to forums reps or their possessions (paid or voluntary [see Employer’s Liability]
• Damage to a forum’s equipment [see Contents] or office space [see Buildings]
• Claims of fault with your work [see Professional Liability]

You will need this insurance if:

• you are interacting with members of the public on a regular basis or holding events
• You may find that if you are running events the venue will have public liability insurance to cover you, but you must check with venue
• You may find that some grant funders or events venue will require you to have your own insurance.
• Some legal structures will need this insurance, depending on the type of work they do.
• If you own a premises and run events this insurance will be necessary
• When running events you should also think about Health and Safety and carry out risk assessments, see our policies and procedures page for examples and templates.

Employer’s Liability Insurance helps protect a forum against claims made by employees for injuries and illnesses suffered during time completing a task for the forum. This would include any costs incurred in treatment or claims (including for legal costs) of compensation. It is a safety net for any forum which decides to be an employer.

It can also provide cover for voluntary workers (but this needs to be checked in your policy). Read more about Insurance and volunteers from NCVO.

This insurance is legally required for any business with paid employees, even if you only have one. See our paying people page to check whether the people who work for you are employed, self-employed or volunteers using the HMRC checker.

If you just run on volunteers, then it is not a requirement to have employers’ liability insurance. But the forum will not be covered if a volunteer has an injury, unless they are covered under the forum’s public liability insurance.

If you hold a dual role in the forum e.g part employed and part either volunteer, director or self employed in the forum, you will have to check with your insurance company how you’re covered.

Example: Imagine a forum runs a coffee morning with the help of employees. One day, an employee injures their back while lifting heavy boxes of food. The employee then decides to claim compensation for their injury.

In this case, the forums employers’ liability insurance could help cover the costs of the employee’s medical treatment and any compensation. It would also cover legal fees and help the group continue its operations smoothly during the claim process.

If the forum works with self-employed people they will need to consider:

• Self-employed people will generally not be covered by a forum’s insurance. You will need to check with your insurance company about who and what is covered.
• Self-employed people may need to have their own insurance particularly if they are providing a paid service or giving advice to or on behalf of the forum.

Professional indemnity insurance protects forums, self-employed people, and freelancers if clients claim their service was poor due to mistakes or negligence, in particular if they sustain financial loss.

It helps cover legal fees, compensation costs and other expenses if you’re faced with a claim of incorrect advice or professional negligence. Some forums take on contracts to provide services to parent carers. In these instances then the forum needs to think through the work they are doing and if it could cause loss or damage.

Although not legally required, it’s recommended for anyone providing a paid service or advice.

This insurance covers:
• Bodily injury: If someone gets hurt because of your negligence.
• Consequential loss: Financial loss to clients due to your mistakes.
• Defamation: Harm to someone’s reputation from false statements.
• Confidentiality breaches: Legal issues from breaking confidentiality.
• Intellectual property: Claims that your work is too similar to someone else’s.

Professional indemnity insurance usually covers claims made during the policy period, you would need to check this with your insurer.

Example: A forum offers specialised support sessions for children with learning disabilities. One day, a parent claims that their child received incorrect advice during a session, which led to the child struggling more in school and experiencing emotional distress. The parent decides to sue the forum for the inadequate service.

In this situation, the forum’s professional indemnity insurance would help cover the costs of legal fees and any compensation for the parent’s claim.

Most forums will have some forms of equipment (or contents).

Examples include:

• Equipment for events – display boards, banners and drinks equipment.
• IT equipment – PCs, iPads, phones and printers.
• Office equipment – desks or filing cabinets.

Contents insurance helps protect any belongings from risks such as theft, fire, or damage. For forums it protects against the loss of equipment that helps the forum work better and which may not be easy to replace.

You will need keep an asset register, see our policies and procedures page.

This type of insurance is to protect trustees and senior decision-makers. Having this kind of insurance could be an incentive to work for you, especially for volunteer trustees, as it could protect them from risking their personal assets if something goes wrong.

Trustee insurance doesn’t cover intentional wrongdoing, fraud, criminal acts or fines and penalties imposed by law. It is designed to protect trustees from personal liability for honest mistakes, enabling them to carry out their role with confidence.

This is insurance specifically related to physical buildings. Most common for those who own buildings. Forums who have an office space are most likely to rent and often the responsibility for the building lies with the landlord. However, you should check your tenancy agreement and if it places liability on you for the building in any way then you should consider this insurance cover.

• Resource centre has more information on insurance Public liability and employer’s liability |
• Resource Centre and a list of potential providers Insurance suppliers
• Before deciding to buy insurance you could talk to Community Matters for more advice.
• You could also ask other forums about how they’re insured and what questions to ask.

Example 1

X forum are a constituted group and have a steering group with a paid administrator and volunteer parent representatives. The forum run 4-6 coffee mornings, training events and some focus groups through the year. They run a summer holiday event and a Christmas event. They decided that they don’t run any regulated activity because parent carers are always present at the family events and remain responsible for their children. The forum only run two of those kinds of events a year. No forum member is left alone with any of the children. They decided that they needed to carry out basic DBS checks in discussion with their LA.

Example 2

X forum has additional funding from the Local authority and health services. They’re a Charitable incorporated Association. They have eight trustees, a steering group, six parent representatives, five paid staff and four volunteers. They run 8 family events during the year and allow parents to bring their children. Two play workers are present at events to give parents a break from children and to enable the forum to speak to the parents about their experiences. They reviewed the information on regulated activity and decided that as they run regular events for families and look after the children for a period of time, that the play workers and the staff involved in running the events needed to have full DBS checks.

Example 3

X forum has additional funding from the national lottery and a contract that the local authority and health jointly fund. They became a Community Interest Company with 3 Directors and a steering group. The Directors are paid to carry out some of the work in the forum and they have a paid administrator. They hold 12 events for parent carers through the year and some parents bring their children, though the parents remain responsible for their children at all times. They also run focus groups, conferences and training sessions for parent carers. They decided that they weren’t involved in any regulated activity, but the LA requested that the Directors, staff and steering group had DBS checks. The Directors and staff all had full DBS checks and the steering group had basic checks.

Request a basic DBS check – GOV.UK

Roles: Anyone can apply, including self-applications. Anyone can request for someone to have this check, it is good practice to let people know you will ask them to get a DBS check as part of their employment or volunteering. You should also let people know if you are expecting them or the forum to pay for this service.

Disclosures: Unspent convictions and conditional cautions.

Roles: Specific roles under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (e.g., medical practitioners, solicitors). This level of check is unlikely to apply to forums as it covers specific careers.

Disclosures: Spent and unspent convictions, cautions, warnings, and reprimands.

Volunteers can use this service for free but note that the umbrella organisation will probably still charge the admin fee. Volunteers must not be in receipt of any money from the forum beyond out-of-pocket expenses.

Roles: if the person is involved in ‘work with adults’ or ‘work with children’. These terms have specific definitions: Eligibility guidance for enhanced DBS checks – GOV.UK

Disclosures: Spent and unspent convictions, cautions, warnings, reprimands, and relevant non-conviction information from local police.

Roles: For people involved in ‘regulated activity’ with children or adults.

Regulated activity with children in England and Wales – GOV.UK

Regulated activity with adults in England and Wales – GOV.UK

Disclosures: Spent and unspent convictions, cautions, warnings, reprimands, relevant non-conviction information, and whether the individual is barred from working with children or adults.

Reading voluntary action:

RVA-DBS-Guide-updated-Sep-2024.docx

DBS Checks: Working with Children in the Charity Sector in the Charity Sector

DBS Checks: Working with Adults in the Charity Sector in the Charity Sector

Resourcecentre:

Using the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) | Resource Centre

Running a forum or being parent rep can be very time consuming and require contact with a lot of different groups as well as strategic partners. It’s important for forum members to protect their mental health and wellbeing.

Having a forum specific contact (phone/email) can help with:

• forum-homelife Balance: Using separate contact details helps you manage your work-life balance more effectively, preventing forum-related issues from spilling into your personal life. Putting limits on how and when you will check your emails or phone will allow you to have down time from the forum, particularly at times when your family needs your attention.
• Overwhelming Communication: You might find yourself overwhelmed with the volume of communication, making it difficult to manage and respond effectively. This can affect your productivity and well-being. It can be hard to manage and sort emails if they are all coming to the same email address.

It is not advisable to use your home address for forum work. The same goes for your personal contact details like email address and phone number.

Having a forum specific contact (phone/email) can help with:

• Privacy: Sharing personal contact details can expose you to unwanted communication, it could also give people access to your personal social media accounts if your email is your full name or linked to your social media handle.
• Unwanted Communication: Sharing your personal contact details can lead to receiving unsolicited calls, messages, or emails from individuals you may not know or want to interact with. This can be disruptive and time-consuming.

Forums have a duty to manage data effectively and in line with GDPR and privacy as part of the conditions of the DfE grant.

Having a forum specific contact (phone/email) can help with:

• Data Protection Obligations: Your personal email may not be subject to the same policies and procedures as an organisational email address. Information may come into your personal account that should not be stored there for GDPR reasons.
• Consent and Transparency: GDPR mandates that individuals must be informed about how their data will be used. They must give explicit consent. This could cause a problem for you if someone shares your personal contact details without your consent. It could also cause problems for the forum if you are storing other people’s data on your personal account.

• Consistency: Using a dedicated contact method for forum work ensures consistent communication from a single source and easier management of group activities as people will know who and where the information is coming from. It can be hard to change emails if you have been operating on personal emails for some time.
• Access to information: if a forum member leaves the forum, you could lose the information saved in their emails.
• Professional Boundaries: Keeping personal and professional contacts separate helps maintain clear boundaries and professionalism.
• Expenses claims: When a person working for the forum claims out-of-pocket expenses for using their personal phone for work, determining the exact amount to claim can be more time-consuming