A growing number of UK healthcare trusts have subpar governance and trusteeship practises, which suggests that most of these arrangements don’t meet HMRC regulations and surely go against best practices for trustees, according to Halcyon Trustees.
As a result of a lack of regulation in the industry, according to John Dean, managing director of Halcyon Trustees, advisers and administrators do not receive official guidance regarding the laws and norms of governance that must be followed.
According to Dean, many healthcare trusts are in a vulnerable position, putting trustees at risk for legal action from beneficiaries, serious reputational harm, and potentially high fines.
Halcyon says this is all taking place as a result of a number of reasons, such as the absence of a legal framework dictating how healthcare trusts should be managed, a lack of regulation, and a lack of trustee training.
Furthermore, a lot of advisers do not see their responsibilities in the governance and trusteeship of their customers. There is also little administration support, as many administrators just see their job as managing a benefit schedule without considering the trust deed or the regulations, and they consciously choose not to be responsible for making sure the trustees are sticking to those standards.
Halycon says that in order to protect beneficiaries and employers and to maintain continuous confidence in the UK financial services sector, it is now necessary to seriously explore placing regulation on this sector.
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