The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales
Ensuring that individuals are eligible to act as charity trustees goes to the heart of the proper management of a charity and is something which charity trustees should not neglect. This is especially important for charities which are dealing with vulnerable beneficiaries.
We have prepared draft guidance for charities which sets out the legal requirements for charity trustees to consider when they are appointing new trustees, as well as our advice on best practice.
In order to ensure the eligibility of individuals to act as charity trustees and to safeguard the interests of beneficiaries, we recommend that as a minimum all charities ask new trustees to sign a declaration to confirm that they are not disqualified from acting as a trustee.
Where charities work with children or vulnerable adults and can carry out Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks on trustees, we strongly recommend that they do this, even where it is not a legal requirement.
Being a trustee of such a charity may provide privileged access to vulnerable beneficiaries. In many smaller charities trustees will have direct access to vulnerable beneficiaries. In larger charities trusteeship may imply that the individual concerned is a person who can properly be trusted with vulnerable beneficiaries. Trustees are responsible for the general control and management of their charities, and by virtue of their authority over others, may also be in a position to facilitate or cover up any misconduct or abuse perpetrated by others.
If an unchecked appointment went wrong, the failure to carry out the relevant checks would be an important factor in our consideration of whether or not the trustees had acted properly.
Our policy is set out fully in the draft guidance below. We intend to include the guidance in a new publication, Recruitment, selection and appointment of charity trustees (CC30). The full text of this publication is set out below. However, for the purposes of this consultation we are only seeking comments on our policy about the way in which charities should check the eligibility of trustees, which is contained in paragraphs 42 to 47 and in "Annex – The Criminal Records Bureau and Disclosures".
The consultation seeks views on our draft guidance to charities on checking the eligibility of individuals to act as charity trustees. We believe our approach strikes the right balance between risk and proportionality. However, before we finally publish the guidance, we want to give charities the opportunity to see what our policy entails and comment on any aspect of it, in order to help us identify any improvements which we can make to the guidance and to identify any problems which it might cause for charities that we haven’t identified.
We welcome comments on any aspect of the guidance. In particular, we welcome comments on:
Q1. Do you think the draft guidance offers sufficient and proportionate safeguards for the protection of vulnerable beneficiaries?
Q2. If you are a charity which is already carrying out CRB checks on new trustees, will the introduction of our policy have any adverse effect on your current procedures and, if so, what?
Q3. Are there any issues relevant to checking the eligibility of charity trustees which are not covered in the guidance and which you feel should be included?
Q4. Do you feel that the guidance clearly sets out the legal and best practice requirements involved in checking the eligibility of individuals to act as trustees? If not, what could be done to improve the guidance?
We would be grateful for all replies in writing or by e-mail, which should be sent to:
Sue Smith
Charity Commission
Harmsworth House
13-15 Bouverie Street
London EC4Y 8DP
or e mail Sue Smith
Responses are requested by 20 August 2004
Where appropriate we encourage you to provide evidence to support your response. If you are a representative group, please provide a summary of the people and organisations you represent with your response.
Please note that responses, including the name and address of respondents, may be made public unless confidentiality is specifically requested.
We are keen to take account of the opinion of everyone who can help us develop our policy and guidance. However, we know that we don’t always hear from those representing the black and minority ethnic sector who could make a contribution.
We are taking steps to make sure that everyone who wants to do so has the opportunity to contribute to our consultations, but we need some help. In order to monitor the responses to this consultation will you please complete and return the monitoring form.
It is not compulsory to complete this form but, if you do respond, we will ensure that it is detached from your consultation response on receipt and that the information remains confidential. Alternatively you can send this form separately to: Terry Wiles, Customer Services Manager, Charity Commission, Woodfield House, Tangier, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4BL.
We will review our draft guidance taking into account the comments that we have received by the end of the consultation period as well as our caseworking experience. We will aim to publish a summary of the responses to this consultation on our website within three months of the closing date of the consultation.
We aim to include the final guidance in a new publication, Recruitment, selection and appointment of charity trustees (CC30) later this year.
A copy of this consultation document has been sent to the following consultees. If you think there are other interested parties who should be consulted, please let us know.
Age Concern
Children in Wales
Churches Child Protection Advisory Service
Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)
Daycare Trust
Girlguiding UK
Healthcare Commission
Help the Aged
Mencap
National Council of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA)
National Council of Voluntary Childcare Organisations (NCCVCO)
National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
NSPCC
Pre-School Learning Alliance (PSLA)
Scout Association
Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA)
If you have any further queries about this consultation, please contact Sue Smith, Charity Commission, Harmsworth House, 13-15 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8DP, Telephone number: 020 7674 2461, E mail Sue Smith
If you have queries about any other aspect of the Commission’s work or would like to order any of our publications, please telephone our Contact Centre on 0870 333 0123
This consultation has been designed to comply with the six consultation criteria in the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Consultation:
Respondents are invited to comment on the extent to which the criteria have been adhered to and to suggest ways of further improving the consultation process. If respondents have comments or complaints about the consultation process they should contact:
Julian Thomas
Publications and Guidance Unit
Woodfield House
Tangier
Taunton
TA1 4BL
E Mail: Julian Thomas
Telephone: 01823 345413
Draft guidance on Recruitment, Selection and Appointment of Charity Trustees