ROLE TITLE: Chair of Trustees
LAST UPDATED: March 2026
REACH: Organisation-wide
Main purpose of role
The Chair provides strong, dynamic leadership to the Board of Trustees and to the wider Samaritans organisation to achieve our vision that fewer people die by suicide. The Chair supports the Chief Executive in their role, ensuring their accountability to the board, leads on development and implementation of a sustainable and innovative strategy, and ensures Samaritans is positively engaged and influential with a wide range of stakeholders.
The Chair also has accountability for governance, ensuring the Board works effectively and that the charity operates within its charitable objectives, and to the highest standards in accordance charitable governance and relevant law and legislation.
Role and support in organisation
Accountable to: Members of the charity, Board of Trustees
Liaises with: Samaritans Executive Leadership Team & other staff and across Samaritans
Works within a team of: Board of Trustees and Board Committees
Key responsibilities
Leading Governance and the Board of Trustees
- Lead the Board in the development and oversight of the organisation’s strategic plan and regular monitoring of progress against the strategy to ensure delivery of Samaritans vision, values and mission. Take account of the external environment, ensuring the board is considering the long term future of the charity and delivering maximum impact for beneficiaries.
- Ensure that the charity’s reputation, ethics and values are safeguarded and that major risks are regularly reviewed and managed and that mitigating actions are in place, including any risks linked to our complex, large-scale volunteer-led operations.
- Lead and chair Board meetings and agree prioritisation and agendas in consultation with the Chief Executive, Company Secretary and/or wider executive team, ensuring that decisions taken by the Board are in the best interests of the charity and are implemented.
- Ensure the charity and trustees operate within its charitable objectives and its activities comply with relevant law and regulation (e.g. safeguarding).
- Ensure that the Board fulfils its duties to ensure the sound financial health of the charity, with systems in place to ensure financial accountability and mitigating financial risks.
- Work in partnership with the Chief Executive to ensure strong, cohesive and collaborative organisational leadership, ensuring the Chief Executive has clear annual objectives and their performance against these is monitored
- Foster, maintain and ensure that constructive relationships exist with and between the trustees and with the Executive Leadership Team.
- Ensure strong procedures for board induction, development, training and appraisal, including appraisal of individual Trustees and board performance appraisal. Lead discussions on appointment of Trustees to board committees.
- Work with the Company Secretary and wider Governance team, to ensure that Board and Committee work is coordinated, effective and aligns with organisational strategy.
- Ensure existing balance of skills and diversity and inclusion are considered the person specification for filling any vacancy in collaboration with the Nominations & Governance Committee.
Ensuring a sustainable future
- In conjunction with the Chief Executive, advocate for and represent the charity, developing relationships with stakeholders and key policy influencers in politics, business and the NGO world.
- Maintain a strong external focus, ensuring that Samaritans is aware of, and able to respond to, issues related to rapidly changing external environment.
- Work with the Chief Executive to ensure strategy and delivery mitigates identified external risks and takes advantages of opportunity, including continued focus on strategic collaboration, digital innovation, income generation and sustainability
- Support income generation activities, including developing new networks, strengthening existing networks and meeting existing and potential financial donors as required.
- Represent the charity externally as a spokesperson at appropriate events, functions or meetings. Develop new networks that allow us to reach new and more diverse beneficiaries and audiences.
- Champion One Samaritans, leading a culture of mutual respect, collaboration and co-operation across the Samaritans movement of branches, Regions, Nations and the Central Charity.
- Ensure key principles concerning equity, diversity and inclusion and learning from lived experience are central to decision making at Samaritans.
Relationship with the Chief Executive
- Ensure delivery of Samaritan’s mission and strategic plan by providing ongoing guidance, advice and support to the Chief Executive, building a mutually respectful and trusting effective working relationship, while respecting executive responsibility.
- In collaboration with the People & Culture Committee, set and review the Chief Executive’s objectives, carrying out regular one to ones to review performance and development needs and conducting an annual appraisal, in line with any procedures agreed by the Committee.
- Lead the appointment of the CEO and ensure that the Chief Executive has the opportunity for professional development and has appropriate external professional support.