Governance

Purpose of governance

UKRCS aims to separate organisational governance from operational command. Governance is responsible for purpose, strategy, finance, compliance, safeguarding and organisational risk. Operational leaders are responsible for authorised activities within delegated procedures.

Intended governance structure

• A governing board or trustee body responsible for the organisation's lawful and charitable direction.
• Defined officers or leads for governance, finance, operations, technical matters, training, volunteers and safeguarding.
• Documented delegations so operational authority is clear.
• Local or regional units only when justified by genuine membership and operational capability.

Decision-making principles

• Decisions should further UKRCS's public-benefit purpose.
• Conflicts of interest should be declared and managed.
• Financial decisions should be recorded and subject to appropriate controls.
• Operational status should be based on competence, readiness and safety rather than title alone.
• UKRCS should not represent itself as a statutory authority or emergency service.

Operational accountability

Authorised UKRCS activities should have a clear responsible lead, documented scope and appropriate risk controls. Members should not self-deploy to incidents merely because an emergency has occurred.

Documents under development

UKRCS is developing a constitution or governing document, financial controls, safeguarding policy, code of conduct, complaints process, operational SOPs, training framework and technical standards.