Eligibility Criteria
The appointments are open to anyone living in the communities we serve in the Yorkshire and Humber region, and who is a member of the Trust at the time of appointment (you can become a member during the application process by clicking here).
Criteria for Disqualification
Not everybody is eligible to be appointed as a Non-Executive Director of an NHS Foundation Trust. The following may not serve or continue to serve as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors, you are:
- a person who has been adjudged bankrupt or whose estate has been sequestrated and (in either case) has not been discharged.
- a person who has made a composition or arrangement with, or granted a trust deed for, his/her creditors and has not been discharged in respect of it.
- a person who within the preceding five years has been convicted in the British Islands of any offence if a sentence of imprisonment (whether suspended or not) for a period of not less than three months (without the option of a fine) was imposed on him/her.
- a person whose tenure of office as a chairman or as a member or director of a Health Service Body has been terminated on the grounds that his/her appointment is not in the interests of public service, for non-attendance at meetings, or for non-disclosure of a pecuniary interest;
- a person who has had his/her name removed from a list maintained under regulations pursuant to sections 91, 106, 123 or 146 of the 2006 Act, or the equivalent lists maintained by Local Health Boards in Wales under the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006, and he/she has not subsequently had his/her name included in such a list;
- a person who has within the preceding two years been dismissed, otherwise than by reason of redundancy, by the coming to the end of a fixed term contract, through retirement or through ill health, from any paid employment with a Health Service Body;
- a person who is an Executive or Non-Executive Director, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of another Health Service Body as defined by National Health Service Act 2006, other than an NHS Trust, or a body corporate whose business includes the provision of health care services, including for the avoidance of doubt, those who have a commercial interest in the affairs of the Trust;
- a person who is a member of a local authority Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee;
- a person who is a subject of a disqualification order made under the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986;
- a person who has failed without reasonable cause to fulfil any training requirement established by the Board of Directors;
- a person who has failed to sign and deliver to the Secretary a statement in the form required by the Board of Directors confirming acceptance of the Directors’ Code of Conduct;
- a person who is an immediate family member of a Director or of a Governor;
- a person who is the subject of a Sex Offenders Order and/or his/her name is included in the Sex Offenders Register;
- a person who by reference to information revealed by a Disclosure and Barring Services check is considered by the Trust to be inappropriate on the grounds that his/her appointment might adversely affect public confidence in the Trust or otherwise bring the Trust into disrepute;
- a person who is incapable by reason of mental disorder, illness or injury of managing and/or administering his/her property and/or his/her affairs;
- he/she is subject to a direction made under Section 142 (Prohibition from Teaching) of the Education Act 2002; or
- NHS England has exercised its powers to remove you as a Director of the Trust or has suspended you from office or has disqualified you from holding office as a Director of the Trust for a specified period or has exercised any of those powers in relation to you on any other occasion whether in relation to the Trust or some other NHS Foundation Trust.
The Requirement for Fit and Proper Persons
As a Trust, we are not permitted to appoint a person to a non-executive director post unless they are:
- Of good character;
- Have the necessary qualifications, skills and experience;
- Are able to perform the work that they are employed for after reasonable adjustments are made;
- Can supply information as set out in Schedule 3 of the Regulations;
- Paragraph 5 (4) of regulations states that in assessing whether a person is of good character, the matters considered must include those listed in Part 2 of Schedule 4.’ Part 2 of Schedule 4 refers to:
- Whether the person has been convicted in the United Kingdom of any offence or been convicted elsewhere of any offence which, if committed in any part of the United Kingdom, would constitute an offence, and
- Whether the person has been erased, removed or struck off a register of professionals maintained by a regulator of health care or social work professionals.
- The CQC’s definition of good character is not the objective test of having no criminal convictions but instead resets upon a judgement as to whether the person’s character is such that they can be relied upon to do the right thing under all circumstances. This implies discretion for boards and councils in reaching a decision and allows for the fact that people can and do change over time.
- The regulations list categories of persons who are prevented from holding the office and for whom there is no discretion:
- The person is an undischarged bankrupt or a person whose estate has had a sequestration awarded in respect of it and who has not been discharged;
- The person is the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or an interim bankruptcy restrictions order or an order to like effect made in Scotland or Northern Ireland;
- The person is a person to whom a moratorium period under a debt relief order applies under Part VIIA (debt relief orders) of the Insolvency Act 1986(40);
- The person has made a composition or arrangement with, or granted a trust deed for, creditors and not been discharged in respect of it;
- The person is included in the children’s barred list or the adults’ barred list maintained under section 2 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, or in any corresponding list maintained under an equivalent enactment in force in Scotland or Northern Ireland;
- The person is prohibited from holding the relevant office or position, or in the case of an individual from carrying on the regulated activity, by or under any enactment;
- The person has been responsible for, been privy to, contributed to or facilitated any serious misconduct or mismanagement (whether unlawful or not) in the course of carrying on a regulated activity, or discharging any functions relating to any office or employment with a service provider.