About the Role
The responsibilities of a Trustee
The primary role of our Trustees is to work constructively with other board members and senior staff to support the good governance of the charity, ensuring that the purpose of the charity is fulfilled, the charity is well-managed and financially sustainable, has an empowering and inclusive culture, and is working within the parameters of the law relevant regulations and agreements with our partners and funders.
The Charity Commission sets out the six main duties of a charity Trustee in its formal guidance setting out the responsibilities of a Trustee. All Trustees receive a copy of this guidance, CC3: The Essential Trustee, upon appointment to the Board.
The six main duties are as follows:
- Ensure your charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit
- Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law
- Act in your charity’s best interests
- Manage your charity’s resources responsibly
- Act with reasonable care and skill
- Ensure your charity is accountable
Specific responsibilities
- Ensure the purpose and long-term strategic direction of the charity is developed, shared and regularly reviewed
- Ensure effective management structures, staff, business plans, budgets and resources are in place to support the work of the charity
- Ensure risk and performance is monitored and managed through effective systems of internal review and delegation
- Ensure appropriate policies and procedures are in place and regularly reviewed
- Ensure that the charity functions within the relevant legal and financial requirements and strives to achieve best practice
- Ensure that the board has the appropriate skills and experience and its working practices deliver good governance for the charity. Key expectations include:
- Support the vision, mission and values of the charity and take Trustees’ duties and good governance seriously
- Devote sufficient time and energy to the effective governance of the charity, reading the papers for meetings, attending board meetings and where relevant sub- committees / forums
- Attend briefing / training sessions and behave in accordance with any relevant policies
- Contribute to the decisions of the Board using your skills and experience and share responsibility for all the decisions of the Board, working to deliver good governance in practice
- Register all interests in the register of interest and declare any potential conflict of interest
- Represent the charity positively to external audiences
- In addition to the specific responsibilities set out above, each Trustee should use any specific skills, knowledge or experience they have to help the Board of Trustees reach sound decisions and support the work of the charity.