Our trustees play a vital role in making sure that StepChange Debt Charity achieves its core charitable purpose. They oversee the overall management and administration of the charity. They also ensure that the charity has a clear strategy and that our work and goals are in line with our vision. Just as importantly, they support and challenge the executive team to enable StepChange to grow and thrive, and through this achieve our mission. Board members have a collective responsibility, which means that trustees always act as a group and not as individuals.
Statutory responsibilities
A trustee is a non-executive position; a summary of trustees’ main duties and responsibilities as defined by the Charity Commission is that trustees must:
- Ensure their charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit.
- Comply with their charity’s governing document and the law.
- Act in their charity’s best interest.
- Manage their charity’s resources responsibly.
- Act with reasonable care and skill.
- Ensure their charity is accountable.
As StepChange is registered not just as a charity but also as a company limited by guarantee, every trustee is also a director of the company, and has legal responsibilities in that capacity. As defined by the Companies Act, the statutory duties of company directors include acting within their powers, promoting the success of the company, exercising independent judgement, reasonable care, skill, and diligence, avoiding conflicts of interest, not accepting third party benefits, and declaring interests.
Overall, trustees have a duty to act prudently, in good faith and must exercise their powers for the benefit of, and in the best interests of, the charity; consequently, trustees’ personal interests must not be allowed to conflict with, or cause harm to the charity.
Role overview & duties
Specifically, the role of the trustee at StepChange is to:
- Serve as a member of the Board, which has ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of the charity, ensuring that it is solvent, well run and delivering the charitable outcomes for the benefit of the public for which it has been set up.
- Provide strategic direction to the charity, setting overall policy, financial plans and budgets, defining goals, ensuring the effective management of risks, and evaluating performance against agreed targets.
- Use their specific skills, knowledge and experience to help shape the development of the charity and to help the Board reach sound decisions. This involves scrutinising board papers, participating in discussions, focusing on key issues, providing advice and guidance on new initiatives, or other issues in which the trustee has special expertise.
- Participate in board committees, working in partnership with other trustees and members of the Executive team.
- Act as an ambassador for the charity and use their networks to promote its work.
Time Commitment
Trustees are expected to devote such time as is necessary for the proper performance of their duties. The Board meets five times a year, usually for up to four hours; meetings are mainly held at StepChange’s London office, but one of the Board meetings forms part of a two-day strategic planning event held at the charity’s head office in Leeds. There is an expectation that trustees will also become a member of one of the Board’s sub-committees, which meet between two and four times a year. Occasionally meetings may be held via video-conference as required. As well as attending meetings, trustees are required to consider all relevant papers and communications.
Overall, we anticipate that trustees will devote the equivalent of a minimum of 12-15 days a year on work for the charity. However, the nature of the role makes it impossible to be specific about the maximum time commitment, and trustees may be required to devote additional time to the charity in respect of preparation and ad hoc matters which may arise and particularly when the charity is undergoing a period of increased activity. At certain times it may be necessary to convene additional Board and/or committee meetings.
Remuneration & Tenure
New trustees are initially elected for a term of three years, which may be extended for a further three years upon approval by the Board; in exceptional circumstances a trustee may be appointed for a third three-year term.
Trustees, with the exception of the Chair of the Board, receive no remuneration for their services, but do receive travel expenses and other reasonable out of pocket expenses as appropriate. Third-party indemnity provision is in place for the benefit of all Trustees of the charity.
Ineligibility
It is important to note that an individual cannot become a non-executive director if they:
- have been the subject of a bankruptcy restriction order or an interim order;
- have made an arrangement with creditors which has not been discharged;
- have received a prison sentence or a suspended sentence of three months or more in the last five years; and/or
- are disqualified under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.