Financial Approvals Policy

Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust, Charity Number 1166676

 

Policy Owner: FRG Committee

Review Cycle: 36 months

Next Review Date: May 2029 (Updated and re-approved May 2026)

 

M Mindful

O Open

S Safe

A Agile

I Inclusive

C Community

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Spending approvals

 

  • The Executive Director has the authority to spend up to £500 on an item or set of items without requiring further approval. Linked items should not be split or spread over several months to circumvent the rule, but rather treated as a single amount. This is checked and monitored by the Chair. 
  • Once the Board has approved a specific program and its associated budget, the Executive Director has the authority to spend against that budget.
  • When a donation is restricted, and the Board has been informed of the restriction, then the Executive Director has the authority to spend against that budget. 
  • When procuring from new suppliers for all items costing over £1000 that are within budget, three quotes are required, and the Finance, Risk and Governance subcommittee (FRG) will have oversight of this process (either as an item during a meeting or over email). 
  • Individual committees may approve spending of up to £5,000 for exceptional expenditure not in the budget. They should be mindful of the Charity's financial position when doing this. Where there is no clear oversight committee, spending will go to FRG for approval. All expenditure approvals of this nature should be sent to FRG, along with procurement documentation, so they are aware of the additional spend. 
  • In an urgent situation, the Chair has the authority to increase the Executive Director’s spending authority to £1000, but this must be reported to the Board at the next meeting, and to the FRG if that Subcommittee should meet before the Board meeting.
  • All other spending requires a formal decision of the Board by the means laid out in the Constitution.


 

Banking approvals

 

Only Trustees may approve payments through the bank account. The approval process is as follows: 

 

  1. Invoice received by the Executive Director, other staff member or trustee 
  2. Invoice is passed to the Chair for review against budgets
  3. If expenditure is approved, the Chair will initiate payment of the invoice on Mosaic’s Lloyds account
  4. The Chair will ensure all documentation is stored in the appropriate Google drive folder 
  5. The Chair will request a second authorisation through the Mosaic Signers WhatsApp group, providing a link to or screenshot of documentation supporting the payment(s) needing approval
  6. Second authorisation will not be made without the accompanying paperwork being provided 
  7. Second authoriser either confirms authorisation to the Mosaic Signers WhatsApp group or raises a query in the group/with the Chair 
  8. The Chair will record the payment and confirm to the Executive Director/external accountancy support

 

  • All Standing Orders must be signed by two trustee signatories. 

  • Direct debits are initiated by the Executive Director and must be pre-approved through the budgeting process. These are tracked by external accountancy support. If any Direct Debits are found to have been set up in error these will be refunded via the Direct Debit Guarantee. 

  • No Mosaic bank account is to be set up that does not require two trustees to approve payment before it is made.  The sole exception to this shall be investments where money in and out can only be via the main bank account e.g. Flagstone.  In this case any changes to the total amount invested requires two signatories but the change within the account should be approved by two trustees but may be executed by one.

  • At the end of each financial year, the Board shall be informed of the bank accounts in place and the trustees authorised to approve them. 

 

As of 9th May 2026  the signatories are:

 

  • Lloyds Bank: Ken Batty, Norman Powell, Madi Pollard-Shore, Gemma Benton and Jo Wittams. 
  • Online approvers are: Ken Batty, Jo Wittams, Madi Pollard-Shore and Gemma Benton. 
  • Flagstone Investment Management: solely accessed by Ken Batty. This investment management account can only accept funds from Mosaic’s Lloyds Account. Funds can only be deposited/withdrawn into Mosaic’s Lloyds account.