Gifts, benefits and hospitality
Direction and guidance on the department’s expectations and obligations related to gifts, benefits and hospitality.
Audience
All employees and contractors.
| Version | Date | Description of changes | Approved by |
|---|---|---|---|
| V02.0.0 | 24/07/2024 | Updated under the 2023 Policy and procedure review program, including conversion into the new template, and improving readability. | Chief Risk Officer |
About the policy
These procedures relate to the Code of conduct policy.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bribery | The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) defines bribery as receiving or offering an undue reward by or to a public official to influence that person's performance of their duty and to act contrary to accepted rules of honesty and integrity. |
| Competitive scholarship, award or grant | A scholarship, award or grant won as a result of an open and competitive application process. |
| Corrupt conduct | As defined in the ICAC Act, is deliberate or intentional wrongdoing, not negligence or a mistake. Further, the ICAC defines corrupt conduct generally as the deliberate conduct of any individual, whether a public official or not, that adversely affects, or could adversely affect, either directly or indirectly, the honest or impartial exercise of official functions by any public official, any group or body of public officials or any public authority. |
| Gift, benefit or hospitality |
Does not include any items freely available to the public. |
| Public duty | A power, authority, duty, or function conferred on the holder of a public office. The duty includes serving the public interest and acting consistently with the department’s values of excellence, trust, equity, integrity, accountability and service. |
| Public official | The Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 section 3 defines a public official as an individual having functions or acting in a public official capacity. This includes all department employees. |
| Benevolent gifting | Gifting solely for charitable purposes such as relieving financial distress, sickness, disability or significant misfortune. |
| Acceptance principles and GIFT test | General guidance given to staff to assist in making decisions consistent with the policy. |
Employees must:
- not solicit any gift, benefit or hospitality
- not accept cash, cheques, money orders or cash equivalents (for example, prepaid debit or credit cards)
- politely decline a gift, benefit or hospitality that is not allowed and/or where it does not meet the principles of the GIFT test
- seek management approval to accept an allowed gift, benefit or hospitality (preferably before acceptance where practical)
- declare all reportable offers of gifts, benefits, or hospitality to their workplace manager
- complete and submit the declaration form so that a record of these can be maintained in the gifts, benefits and hospitality register.
Principals and workplace managers must:
- exercise professional judgement to appropriately approve and manage the treatment of gifts, benefits and hospitality declarations submitted to them
- maintain a local gifts, benefits and hospitality register
- promptly refer all reports of an offer of a bribe to Professional and Ethical Standards.
What needs to be done
When a department employee receives a gift, benefit or hospitality, there are risks of unethical or corrupt behaviour. Accepting an offer that could be perceived by others as an inducement or incentive is inconsistent with the standards set in the department’s Code of conduct policy.
These procedures do not apply to:
- employee gifting involving staff to staff gifts
- genuine benevolent gifting
- gifting of government assets.
1. Declaring gifts, benefits and hospitality
Employees must adhere to the code of conduct and apply its principles in assessing and deciding whether to accept offers of gifts, benefits and hospitality and report them as outlined in these procedures.
Employees must:
- place the public interest over their personal interests
- act professionally with honesty, consistency and impartiality
- be transparent and open in exercising public functions.
1.1 Assess whether to accept the offer
Employees must (where practical) avoid accepting gifts, benefits, or hospitality without prior approval from their workplace manager.
Employees must not accept any offer of a gift, benefit, or hospitality:
- that they or their family have solicited
- where the offer or acceptance establishes a perceived or actual conflict of interest
- that does not meet the Acceptance principles and GIFT test (PDF 105 KB)
- that is, or could be perceived as being, offered as an inducement or incentive to act in a certain way
- that is cash or is universally accepted as cash
- that is any form of loyalty points, rewards, or bonuses
- that is provided to a family member, relation, friend or associate
- where the employee is currently or may in the future, exercise discretion in making a decision that affects the donor
- where the donor or the donor’s intention is not known
- where they remain unsure of the genuine nature of the offer.
1.2 Assess when to report the offer
Employees must promptly report offers made to them:
- where the gift, benefit or hospitality is valued at more than $50
- where a single donor in a defined period provides a series of gifts, benefits, or hospitality that in total is valued at more than $50 (the period should be defined by the workplace manager)
- that are declined because acceptance creates a conflict of interest, is intended to influence the decision maker or is a bribe.
However, offers that meet the following criteria do not need to be reported:
- where the same offer has been made to two or more employees, and at least one of the employees has submitted a declaration, which sets out all parties and offer details, to their workplace manager
- staff-to-staff gifts that meet the Acceptance principles and GIFT test (PDF 105 KB).
1.3 Complete and submit a declaration form
Employees who are required to make a report must:
- make the declaration using the Gifts, benefits, and hospitality - declaration form (PDF 254 KB)
- make a declaration using the Conflict of interest declaration and management form (DOCX 56 KB) when the offer, regardless of acceptance or not, establishes a conflict of interest
- promptly submit the form/s to their workplace manager.
1.4 Review the declaration
Workplace managers must:
- promptly review employee declarations submitted to them
- make approval and management decisions consistent with these procedures, and consider any health and safety risk or legal risks which might arise if the offer was accepted
- inform employees of their decisions and ensure they act consistently with that decision
- ensure that employees submit a Conflict of interest declaration and management form (DOCX 56 KB) when it causes an actual or perceived conflict of interest regardless of whether the gift is accepted.
1.5 Maintain a local workplace register
Workplace managers must:
- record declarations made to them in their local gifts, benefits and hospitality register
- for public service senior executives’ (PSSEs) and nominated employees’ declarations, send a copy to fraudandcorruptioncontrol@det.nsw.edu.au, which keeps a central register that is published each quarter on the department’s website
- make available their local gifts, benefits, and hospitality register for viewing consistent with the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, which states that the public interest is in favour of disclosure.
1.6 High-risk and commercially sensitive areas
Certain department functions and roles present a higher risk for the offer of gifts, benefits and hospitality. Employees and managers working in high-risk areas must be aware of their exposure to offers of inappropriate gifts, gifts of influence and bribes and be alert to appropriately declining offers of gifts, benefits and hospitality.
Employees working in the following business units must not accept any gifts, benefits, or hospitality (except for ‘staff to staff’ gifts) regardless of meeting the acceptance principles or passing the GIFT test:
- Internal Audit
- Procurement
- NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority.
2. Giving gifts benevolently
Employees giving or receiving any gift, benefit or hospitality arising from crowdfunding should observe the procedures set out in the Crowdfunding for and by employees (PDF 81 KB) guide. The guidance is not intended to limit or restrict genuine benevolent gifting but rather to offer practical advice on gifting and receiving benevolent funds.
Employees receiving any competitive scholarship, award or funding should observe the procedures in the Competitive scholarships, awards and grants (PDF 99 KB) guide.
3. Contravening these procedures
Breaches of these procedures may result in disciplinary proceedings and result in outcomes such as warnings or employment termination.
Depending on the situation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption may investigate whether the person engaged in corrupt conduct and refer the matter to the Director Public Prosecution, which could lead to a criminal prosecution.
Record-keeping requirements
(FA387 (PDF 106 KB),2.0.6) keep records on department and local policies at individual schools. Disposal action: Retain for a minimum of 5 years after superseded, then destroy.
Mandatory tools and templates
- Acceptance principles and GIFT test (PDF 105 KB)
- Conflict of interest declaration and management form (DOCX 56 KB)
- Gifts, benefits, and hospitality declaration form (PDF 255 KB)
- Enterprise risk management department resources Gifts, benefits, and hospitality template - local workplace register
Supporting tools, resources and related information
- Public Service Commissioner Direction - 1 of 2022 Managing Gifts and Benefits Minimum Standards (PDF 214 KB)
- Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009
- The department’s Code of conduct policy
Policy contact
Director, Control Monitoring Advisory
FraudandCorruptionControl@det.nsw.edu.au
Executive Director, Professional and Ethical Standards
pes@det.nsw.edu.au
The Executive Director, Professional Ethical Standards monitors the implementation of this procedure, regularly reviews its contents to ensure relevance and accuracy, and updates it as needed.