Gift Giving and Receiving

Staff must, at all times, exercise the highest standards of integrity. In particular they should avoid any situation where they could be suspected of obtaining improper benefit by nature of their employment.

While it is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules, staff should be mindful that the borderline between genuine expressions of goodwill or appreciation, and that of bribery / seeking to gain favour can appear extremely fine.

The general principle is that the giving or receiving of token gifts may be acceptable but these should only be made/accepted with the approval of the home’s manager.

For example:

1. Children or their families may attempt to give staff gifts or money, staff should not accept any such offer and should report any such occurrences to a senior member of staff or the home’s manager;
2. On some occasions, children or their families may offer token gifts as a sign of appreciation to staff. In these circumstances, when it may give offence to refuse the gift and the relative value of the gift is small, staff are free to accept remembering that the acceptance of any gifts, under whatever circumstances should be bought to the attention of the home’s manager as soon as practicably possible and a note is made on their staff file;
3. Suppliers or potential suppliers to the home may offer gifts, seeking contracts to sell goods or services. Staff are expected to declare any such gifts or discounts.

It is accepted that on special occasions such as on birthdays or religious festivals, staff may wish to buy a child a gift separate from those given by the home.

Such giving of gifts is only acceptable where:

• It is a token gift of relatively insignificant monetary value;
• Staff inform the home’s manager that they are presenting a gift to a child;
• The social worker is notified, and a decision made about whether to notify the parent(s).