Our policies and procedures

Cystic Fibrosis Trust is committed to conducting all our activities in an honest and ethical manner. Our Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy:

• sets out the Trust’s approach to the giving, accepting and refusing of gifts and hospitality
• ensures we have effective systems to identify and counter bribery in line with the 2010 Bribery Act
• ensures all employees and volunteers are aware of their duties to report and help to prevent any acts of bribery across the organisation.

Similarly, Cystic Fibrosis Trust takes a serious view of any attempt to commit fraud. Anyone found to be involved in impropriety of any kind will be subject to disciplinary action or prosecution. In this regard, our Fraud Prevention and Response Policy:

• requires staff to act honestly, with integrity and to safeguard resources
• sets out our policy toward fraud, our responsibilities for its prevention
• outlines the actions to be taken if we discover or suspect fraud.

For more information, contact [email protected].

Cystic Fibrosis Trust offers various welfare grants to help support people with cystic fibrosis and their families through challenging times. We ensure grants are provided carefully and consistently, and we are committed to the prevention of fraud and/or misuse of funds. But we get a lot of complex grant applications and sometimes, things can go wrong. 

Our Use of Funds Policy sets out the due diligence that Cystic Fibrosis Trust applies to ensure our grant funds are used as intended, as well as the kind of actions we will take in response when individual issues do arise.

For more information, please see our Welfare Grants: Use of Funds Policy.

If you have further questions, please contact [email protected].

We are grateful to our supporters, and hope that no one experiences any issues or problems throughout the donation process. In most circumstances, charity law prohibits us from refunding donations, but we understand that mistakes can sometimes be made, and there may be particular reasons for someone to request a refund.

For more information on our approach and how to request a refund, please take a look at our Refund Policy.

If you have further questions, please contact [email protected].

Cystic fibrosis affects over 11,000 people in the UK who all experience it differently. As well as the daily struggles of their condition, people with CF can also face other barriers like financial worries, poor housing conditions or differences in experience because of where they live in the UK.

We know that people from an ethnic minority are more likely to have a rare form of CF and our latest registry report shows that only 67.5% of people from an ethnic minority are able to take the new modulator drugs.

We’re strengthening our focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion to address the inequalities that exist for people with cystic fibrosis and their families. We want to truly represent everyone with cystic fibrosis, but our ambition won’t be achieved unless equity, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do, and everyone affected by cystic fibrosis is able to live a life unlimited.

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy outlines how we will achieve this, by setting out our commitments toward achieving health equity, recognising, engaging with and reflecting the full diversity of the CF community, and making sure the Trust feels like an inclusive place to work.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

Our relationship with the cystic fibrosis community and our reputation for reliability, independence and impartiality is one of our key strengths.

As such, we must ensure that our work is based on the principles of openness, transparency and integrity, and that we never work in ways that compromise our reputation or independence, or that are against the interests of people with cystic fibrosis.

Our Ethical Policy provides an ethical framework for our work with all supporters, including companies, high-net worth individuals, Trusts, Foundations, donors, fundraisers, and volunteers, to ensure that we properly assess and exercise due diligence over all partnerships and major donations, including refusing or withdrawing where appropriate. It also outlines our commitment to expressing our views even if they conflict with our partners or supporters, and to comment whenever we believe that the interests of the cystic fibrosis community are not being appropriately served. 

For more information, contact [email protected].

We are committed to openness and transparency across all our work and governance. Our Annual Report (alongside our Impact Report and Research Impact Report) provides a detailed summary of all our activities across the board, alongside our audited financial statements and an overview of our governance systems and controls.

Take a look at our Annual Report, Impact Report, and Research Impact Report (including those from previous years).

Find details on our Trustees and Senior Leadership Team.

For more information, contact [email protected].

We are committed to protecting our supporters’ personal information and being transparent about what we do with it. We use personal information in accordance with all applicable data protection laws and don’t do anything with it that people wouldn’t reasonably expect.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we use and protect data shared with us, as well as how people can exercise their data subject rights.

Our Cookies Policy sets out how our website makes use of cookies to provide a more personalised web service and better understand our audiences,

For more information on these policies, or our approach to data governance and security more generally, please contact [email protected].

All our raffles are managed in line with the Gambling Act 2005 and the requirements and guidelines established by the Gambling Commission.  We refuse to be associated with any proposed lottery or gambling activity that may breach the law, or we suspect may be associated with criminal activities.

For full information on our approach to raffles, please see our Raffles Policy. 

If you have further questions, please contact [email protected].

Cystic Fibrosis Trust takes our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. We are committed to safeguarding any child or adult at risk of abuse who comes into contact with us, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs. 

Our Safeguarding Policy outlines how we will achieve this, through the deployment of designated safeguarding staff, communications, awareness training and procedures to identify and address any safeguarding concerns or complaints whether raised by our employees, volunteers or third parties, or those who make disclosures to us.

Take a look at our public statement setting out our approach to safeguarding.

If you have further questions, please contact [email protected].

Cystic Fibrosis Trust is committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethics, honesty, openness and accountability.

Our Whistleblowing Policy sets out our processes for employees or anyone working on behalf of the Trust to report any fraud, misconduct or wrongdoing, and our investigation process. It also puts in place protections to ensure individuals raising concerns are not victimised.

For more information, contact [email protected].

People with cystic fibrosis (CF) are likely to be particularly affected by environmental changes such as extreme weather events and poor air quality and we have a special duty of care to them and their families. 

Informed by this, Cystic Fibrosis Trust believes we have a shared global responsibility to act urgently and with purpose during the ongoing climate crisis, in order to minimise our impact on the wider environment. 

To demonstrate our commitment to the health of the CF community, we will: 

• monitor our current environmental impact and our ongoing environmental objectives and targets
• consider our environmental impact where possible in all decision-making - including how we invest our resources, our travel and meeting policies, our choice of suppliers and contractors, and our partnerships
• communicate environmental responsibilities and requirements to all staff across our organisation, with senior staff providing leadership, guidance and support where needed
• promote efficient use of materials and resources, preventing waste where possible. Where not possible, we will, in order of preference: 
  1. reduce the resources we consume and waste we produce
  2. reuse
  3. recycle
• commit to meeting all existing relevant environmental legislation. 

To ensure we keep improving, we will annually review our Environmental Policy, and consider our current and planned future activities alongside this. 

For more information, contact [email protected].

Cross-infection is where one person spreads an infection to another, either directly or indirectly.

For people with cystic fibrosis, cross-infection can be very harmful and poses a particular threat.

This is why people with cystic fibrosis should not meet face to face, and we have guidelines in place at Cystic Fibrosis Trust events to prevent this.

For more information, please see our guidelines for preventing cross-infection at events.

If you have further questions, please contact [email protected].