Forum Central has been working with colleagues in the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board Insights team to develop a mechanism for capturing and recording risks and issues which are identified by third sector colleagues. This is to help make sure what we are seeing and hearing across the third sector is visible and can feed into system conversations where relevant.
In particular, in relation to the population/care boards which each oversee a risk register in order to prioritise and manage levels of risk relating to the health of their population. Each board is responsible for owning their risk register.
We’d like to be clear: There is not a ‘third sector risk register’. This is a process to feed risks and issues onto other risk registers. While we encourage you to submit the form, does not mean any action will be taken on the risk or issue, but it will increase visibility of specific risks, issues, and themes, and enable us to compile a more robust understanding of third sector risks.
We want to ensure there is an open and transparent process which enables all third sector organisations to share information about risks, issues, and themes. This is a live and evolving process which is being trialed in addition to any existing processes which boards may have in place.
The Risk and Issues Register form
An online form has been created for you to share information about risks or issues. Please follow the link to submit your specific risks and/or issues using the guidance notes below to help you.
- Third Sector Risks and Issues Form (Microsoft forms no sign-in required)
This form may be subject to amends as the process evolves.
Guidance and supporting information
A scoring system is used to assess the level of risk. The level of risk and details set out in the form should help the relevant boards and partners consider what could be done to mitigate the risk or the issue.
The following document offers guidance around the questions asked on the form to submit a risk, issue, or theme.
- Guidance on Risk and Issue Recording V2
This form may be subject to amends as the process evolves. - To help explain the proposed process, slide decks have been shared in some of our network meetings (Reps and Reference group, Communities of Interest (COIN)). This is a version of the deck: Third Sector Risk and Issue Register – Process Headlines Feb 2024 (opens online view of powerpoint file)
Definitions
A ‘risk’ is identified differently to an ‘issue’, and a ‘theme’:
- Risk: a risk is something which could happen or is likely to happen, which might then affect something else.
- Issue: an issue is something that has already happened, which has in turn affected something. With an issue, there is no choice but to either do something about it (mitigate it) or accept it, as there is no element of uncertainty.
- Themes: a theme is usually something wider, not specific or measurable, but that is coming up consistently and needs to be logged and monitored.
Risks, issues and themes could apply to a project, an organisation, a group of individuals, a community, or a whole population of people.
As always, you can speak to your contact at Forum Central or email us [email protected] if you have any questions and we’ll do our best to help.