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Royal National Institute of Blind People

Coordinates: 51°31′54″N 0°06′53″W / 51.5317°N 0.1148°W / 51.5317; -0.1148
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RNIB
Royal National Institute of Blind People
Formation16 October 1868 (1868-10-16)
TypeRegistered charity
Headquarters154a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JE
Location
Coordinates51°31′54″N 0°06′53″W / 51.5317°N 0.1148°W / 51.5317; -0.1148
Region served
United Kingdom
Chief Executive
Matt Stringer
Key people
Anna Tylor (Chair)[1]
Websitewww.rnib.org.uk
Formerly called
The British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind
The British and Foreign Blind Association
The Royal National Institute for the Blind
The Royal National Institute of the Blind

RNIB (formally, The Royal National Institute of Blind People and previously The British and Foreign Blind Association, The Royal National Institute for the Blind (1953-2002) and The Royal National Institute of the Blind (2002-2008)) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales investigated the charity from 2015 to 2019 and said that its failings which included medical errors and undocumented cases of physical restraint at its schools and residential facilities were some of the worst it had ever dealt with.[2][3]

King Charles III is the charity's Patron.[4]

History

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RNIB was first established on 16 October 1868 as the British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind.[5] The first meeting, which was held at 33 Cambridge Square, Hyde Park, London, involved founder Thomas Rhodes Armitage (a physician who was partially sighted) and Daniel Conolly, W W Fenn and Dr James Gale (all three of whom were blind).[5]

Later, the organisation became the British and Foreign Blind Association for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind and Promoting the Employment of the Blind – generally shortened to the British and Foreign Blind Association.[5]

The organisation was officially renamed the Royal National Institute for the Blind in 1953, having received a Royal Charter in 1949.[6] In 2002, the organisation was renamed the Royal National Institute of the Blind ("of" rather than "for" blind people) when it became a membership organisation.[7] To coincide with the launch of the UK Vision Strategy in 2008, it was renamed the Royal National Institute of Blind People.[8]

From 2000 until 2023, RNIB operated from premises on Judd Street, in Bloomsbury, London, which it shared with Guide Dogs.[9] The Duchess of Edinburgh opened the organisation's new headquarters in the Grimaldi Building on Pentonville Road, London in 2023.[10][11]

In October 2008, RNIB and Action for Blind People agreed in principle to combine some services across England. The new arrangement began in April 2009, resulting in Action for Blind People becoming an associate charity of RNIB.[12] It merged with RNIB in 2017.

Queen Elizabeth II was RNIB's Patron from the start of her reign in 1952[13] until her death in 2022.[14]

Anna Tylor has been RNIB's Chair since 2020.[1] Matt Stringer was appointed Chief Executive in 2019.[15]

Programmes and services

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Reading services

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RNIB offers an extensive range of reading services. They include RNIB Bookshare – a free library of over one million items, which supports students and others in education with a vast collection of accessible textbooks and materials[16] – and Talking Books,[17] which features more than 40,000 fiction and non-fiction audio books.[18]

Sexually abusive practices

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RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning was a school and children’s home for young people who are blind or partially sighted and who also have multiple disabilities or complex needs such as severe or profound learning disabilities, physical disabilities, additional sensory impairment, healthcare needs and autistic spectrum disorders. The school was run by RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People). It was based just outside Coventry. RNIB Pears Centre was categorised by Ofsted as a special, non-maintained school for 2- to 19-year-olds and as a children's home. Each service was inspected independently of one another by Ofsted. The children's home was rated as 'Outstanding' by Ofsted in November 2011. The school also achieved an 'Outstanding' Ofsted grading in February 2013, but in November 2017 it was graded as inadequate.[19] The Charity Commission for England and Wales launched an inquiry into the school in 2018 following a sexual abuse allegation.[2] On Tuesday 4 September 2018 the RNIB announced both the children's home and school will close on 7 November 2018, as the RNIB closed the children's home on site.[20] The Charity Commission for England and Wales (CC) made a two-year inquiry into the residential school after one of its subsidiaries alleged a 'sexually abusive practice' was occurring there.[21] The CCs' report posited that the institution had exposed vulnerable children to harm and said that it was 'one of the worst examples' it had ever uncovered.[22] The CC's report said that the RNIB run school's failings had a serious impact on vulnerable people and recorded several cases of distress and harm to young disabled children.[22] The RNIB claimed it had attempted to 'turn the service around' after the CC published their report.[23] When the CC published its report the RNIB issued an apology which claimed that the findings, 'represent(s) a low point in our 152-year history'. The findings included a child whose feet were injured because they wore shoes that were too small for three months. Moreover, the inquiry found a 'disproportionately high number of basic medication errors' with one epileptic child suffering an increase in seizures.[24] It also found that the school failed to document physical restraint incidents.[25]

Charity commission enquiry into child abuse at RNIB's facilities

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In 2015 the Charity Commission for England and Wales launched an inquiry into the institute following serious allegations of systemic failings within the organisation.[2] The inquiry uncovered significant management, oversight, and staffing shortcomings that led to repeated incidents where young people in the charity's care were put at risk or harmed.[2][3] Moreover, it revealed that staff and trustees at RNIB had been guilty of misconduct and mismanagement in several of its care facilities over several years, breaching their duty of care to beneficiaries.

The Charity Commission described this investigation as one of the most severe cases of charity failure. It highlighted that RNIB's corporate stewardship of services for children with complex needs fell far short of expectations.[2] The Charity Commission's report stated that the RNIB failed to protect its beneficiaries from coming to harm. Moreover, that serious safeguarding breaches occurred within the charity due to systemic weaknesses and the absence of a centralised data-management system for its care settings.[26][27]

As part of the inquiry, the charities commission heard from multiple parties involved with the charity who attributed its failings to dysfunctional leadership and governance over many years.[26] It also found that the RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning, a residential school near Coventry, failed to ensure its staff had adequate training, made multiple administration errors, neglected to document incidents of physical restraint, lacked effective safeguarding procedures, and administered the wrong medication on numerous occasions.[2] The review attributed the charity's failings to a culture that was dismissive of external criticism from the parents of its beneficiaries. Furthermore, the charity's board was focused on narrow regulatory compliance and dismissive of criticism from the regulatory organisations it was accountable to; the Care Quality Commission and Ofsted.[27][3]

The inquiry also found inadequate responses to complaints about unexplained injuries and improper management of medical care, possibly due to a reliance on unqualified and temporary staff. Moreover, five RNIB staff members were referred to the Disclosure and Barring Service after an audit uncovered twenty-six unreported serious incidents across the charity's facilities from March 2017 to April 2018.[2]

Two of the charity's institutional creditors considered it to have defaulted on its credit agreement terms because of the Pears Centre's regulatory difficulties and Ofted's proposed cancellation of the establishment's registration. Therefore, its creditors declared that the organisation had to pay £21 million immediately.[3] Subsequently, RNIB sold all 18 of its care homes and schools to mitigate the financial crises and limit the impact on its reputation.[2] The Charity Commission described RNIB's shortcomings as 'one of the worst examples we have uncovered of poor governance and oversight having a direct impact on vulnerable people'.[27] The charity's former chief executive and four of its trustees resigned at the start of the inquiry. RNIB’s chief executive, Matt Stringer, apologised for the failings.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b White, Peter (15 December 2020). The RNIB's New Chair Of Trustees Anna Tylor. BBC (In Touch broadcast on Radio 4). Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Watt, Holly (5 April 2018). "RNIB and subsidiary under investigation over abuse allegation". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "Charity Inquiry: The Royal National Institute of Blind People (226227) and RNIB Charity (1156629)". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  4. ^ McCormick, Emily (29 May 2024). "RNIB appoints King Charles as royal patron". Optometry Today. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Thomas, p.113
  6. ^ Thomas, pp.142-43.
  7. ^ Bruce, p.229
  8. ^ "Royal National Institute of Blind People 1868". Science Museum Group. London. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  9. ^ Wait, Sam (23 January 2023). "Guide Dogs moves out of RNIB office share after five years". Civil Society. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  10. ^ "HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh opens the RNIB's new London office". Greater London Lieutenancy. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  11. ^ Pearson, Andrew (6 November 2023). "RNIB's new HQ becomes exemplar in designing for blind and neurodiverse people". Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  12. ^ Little, Matthew (24 October 2009). "RNIB and Action for Blind People announce 'associate' deal". Third Sector. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Charities pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II". Cause. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  14. ^ RNIB 2022/23, pp.8–9
  15. ^ Weakley, Kirsty (25 April 2019). "RNIB appoints Matt Stringer as new chief executive". Civil Society. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Accessibility: RNIB Bookshare". University of Exeter Library. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  17. ^ "RNIB talking book service – Visual impairment support". Scottish Borders Council. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  18. ^ RNIB 2022/23, p.11
  19. ^ Jenkins, Deb; Edgerton, Jane; Craig, John (14 November 2017). "School report RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning". Ofsted. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  20. ^ "A message from Eleanor Southwood, our Chair". rnib.org.uk. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  21. ^ Watt, Holly (5 April 2018). "RNIB and subsidiary under investigation over abuse allegation". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  22. ^ a b Layton, Josh (26 June 2020). "Damning report lists 'serious failings' at RNIB children's centre in Coventry". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  23. ^ Mullen, Edna (7 September 2018). "Children's home and school for blind children to close in wake of damning Ofsted report". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  24. ^ "Children 'exposed to harm' at Coventry RNIB children's home". BBC News. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  25. ^ Butler, Patrick (25 June 2020). "Children at RNIB schools and homes put at risk, charity regulator finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  26. ^ a b Weakley, Kirsty (25 June 2020). "RNIB's governance failures led to young people being harmed, inquiry finds". Civil Society. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  27. ^ a b c Royle, Orianna Rosa. "Serious mismanagement at RNIB exposed vulnerable people to risk, regulator finds". Third Sector. Retrieved 17 September 2024.

Sources

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  • RNIB Annual Report 2022/23 (PDF). RNIB. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  • Rose, June (1970). Changing Focus: the development of blind welfare in Britain. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 009100490X.
  • Thomas, Mary G (1957). The Royal National Institute for the Blind, 1868-1956. Brighton Herald, Ltd.
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