Managing gifts benefits and hospitality

Gifts, benefits and hospitality 

When you work in the NSW Government sector, you may be offered gifts, benefits or hospitality. These could come from customers, clients, suppliers, applicants or other people or organisations. 

Sometimes, your family, friends or close contacts might also be offered something because of your role. 

While we all need to understand what to do if we are offered gifts, benefits or hospitality, some roles carry more risk, especially if you: 

• make or advise on buying decisions
• assess tenders, quotes or proposals
• manage or advise on grant applications
• manage contracts
• regulate industries, organisations or individuals
• provide services, including hiring staff. 

When you can accept a gift 

You may be able to accept a gift, benefit or hospitality of low or token value. This could include a small memento or gesture of thanks. Accepting this is usually okay – unless your agency’s policy says you can’t accept any gifts or benefits at all. 

You must still follow your obligations under the Ethical Framework for the NSW Government sector. 

When you must not accept a gift, benefit or hospitality 

You should never: 

• ask for gifts, benefits or hospitality from anyone
• accept anything that could influence your decisions
• accept anything that could appear to influence your decisions
• accept anything on behalf of a family member, friend or associate that could be seen as an attempt to influence you
• accept anything if you currently (or may later) make a decision that affects the person or organisation giving it.

Your responsibilities

You must: 

• follow your agency’s policies for declaring and managing gifts, benefits and hospitality
• refuse any bribe or offer that could be an inducement
• report any bribes or inducements in line with your agency’s policies 

Agencies must have a policy and register for managing gifts and benefits under Public Service Commissioner Direction 1 of 2022 (PDF 123.25KB). 

You can read more about this topic on the Independent Commission Against Corruption website. 

Conflicts of interest 

A conflict of interest exists when a reasonable person might perceive that your personal interest(s) could be favoured over your public duties. These interests might include: 

• personal relationships
• second jobs or side work
• being part of a group or organisation
• owning property, shares or a business
• personal beliefs that could affect your decisions. 

Your responsibilities 

You must identify and declare any conflict of interest. 

To check if a conflict exists, ask yourself: 

• Do I have a personal interest?
• Do I have a public duty?
• Is there a connection between my personal interest and my public duty?
• Could a reasonable person perceive that my personal interest might be favoured? 

Having a conflict of interest is not always unethical. But you should avoid situations where your personal interests could conflict with your public duties. If you don’t declare or manage a conflict properly, it may be misconduct or serious wrongdoing. 

How to manage a conflict of interest

If you have a conflict, you must: 

• declare it as soon as you know about it
• follow your agency’s conflicts of interest policy
• work with the appropriate person in your agency to resolve the conflict in the public interest.

If you manage people, or are responsible for managing a conflict, you should: 

• document the conflict clearly
• consider reassigning duties that pose a conflict
• approve a plan to manage or remove the conflict
• monitor the situation to make sure the plan is followed.

For more help, see the Independent Commission Against Corruption's guidance on managing conflicts of interest.