CASTLE STREET METHODIST CHURCH, Cambridge Circuit

This Policy was agreed by the Church Council at a meeting on 18 March 2025

The Policy is taken from the Constitutional Practice and Discipline of the 

Methodist Church (‘CPD’).

Any point of clarification 

This policy aims to provide guidance relating to, and does not seek to replace or supersede, the regulations on Conflict of Interest as set out in the Constitutional Practice and Disciplines of the Methodist Church under Standing Orders 019A.

All staff, volunteers, and members of Castle Street Methodist Church will endeavour to avoid any conflict of interest between the interests of the organisation 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. 

A conflict of interest is any situation in which a trustee’s personal interests, or interests that they owe to another body, may (or may appear to) influence or affect the trustee’s decision making.

The purpose of this policy is to protect the integrity of the organisations’ decision making process, to enable our stake holders to have confidence in our integrity and to protect the integrity and reputation of volunteers, staff and committee members.

Conflicts of interest may come in a number of different forms:

• direct financial gain or benefit to the trustee, such as:
  • payment to a trustee for services provided to the charity
  • the award of a contract to another organisation in which a trustee has an interest and from which a trustee will receive a financial benefit
  • the employment of a trustee in a separate post within the charity, even when the trustee has resigned in order to take up the employment
  • indirect financial gain, such as employment by the charity of a spouse or partner of a trustee,
  • non-financial gain, such as when a user of the charity’s services is also a trustee 
• conflict of loyalties, such as where a trustee is appointed by the local authority or by one of the charity’s funders, or where a friend of a trustee is employed by the charity

Procedures:

1. The first item on every agenda will be a request for any committee members to disclose any interest in a transaction or decision where there may be a conflict between the organisations’ best interests and the committee member’s best interests or a conflict between the best interests of two organisations that the committee member is involved with.
2. After disclosure, the committee member 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 committee members present at the time.
3. Any such disclosure and the subsequent actions taken will be noted in the minutes.

Connected persons

A person is connected with an individual if that person is the individual’s spouse or partner, is a relative, or the spouse or partner of a relative, of the individual or of the individual’s spouse or partner.

Trustees will closely monitor any decisions to pay a connected person i.e. someone related or in business with a trustee, for a small piece of work, ensuring that competition for work is transparent 

This policy is meant to supplement good judgement, and staff and volunteers should respect its spirit as well as its wording.

Agreed at the Castle Street Church Council Meeting 18 March 2025