Conflict of Interest Policy

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All staff, members, volunteers and management committee members of the Unitarian Church Cambridge will strive to avoid any conflict of interest between the interests of the Church on the one hand, and personal, professional, and business interests on the other. This includes avoiding actual conflicts of interest as well as the perception of conflicts of interest.

The purposes of this policy is to protect the integrity of the Church’s decision-making process, to enable our stakeholders to have confidence in our integrity, and to protect the integrity and reputation of staff, members, volunteers and committee members.

Examples of conflicts of interest include:

1 A management committee member who is also a user who must decide whether fees from users should be increased.

2 A management committee member who is related to a member of staff and there is decision to be taken on staff pay and/or conditions.

3 A management committee member who is also on the committee of another organisation that is competing for the same funding.

4 A management committee member who has shares in a business that may be awarded a contract to do work or provide services for the organisation.

Upon appointment, each management committee member will make a full, written disclosure of interests, such as relationships and posts held, that could potentially result in a conflict of interest. This written disclosure will be kept on file and will be updated as appropriate.

In the course of meetings or activities, staff, members, volunteers or management committee members will disclose any interests in a transaction or decision where there may be a conflict between the Churchʼs best interests and the management committee memberʼs best interests or a conflict between the best interests of two organisations that the management committee member is involved with.

Where a conflict of interest has been identified, a management committee member will be required to agree to consent to the following statement:

“After disclosure, I understand that I may be asked to leave the room for the discussion and may not be able to take part in the decision depending on the judgement of the other management committee members present at the time”.

Any such disclosure and the subsequent actions taken will be noted in the minutes.

This policy is meant to supplement good judgment, and staff, members, volunteers and management committee members should respect its spirit as well as its wording.

Feb 2016