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Trustees play a vital role, taking on important legal responsibilities, and working together to lead and help run their charity. Charities cannot do their job without them.

Your charity may be looking for one or more new trustees because you have:

• vacancies now, or expect to have vacancies soon
• decided to increase trustee numbers to help run your charity
• decided that your trustee board needs some specific skills or experience
• recently set up as a charity

Many people from all walks of life have valuable skills or experience that they can bring to a trustee role, matched with the right charity.

Use this guidance to help you to:聽

• think broadly about who could be a trustee of your charity, and how to reach them
• understand if you can improve the way you recruit new trustees

You can delegate some aspects of trustee recruitment to your staff and others. But, as trustees, you are responsible for setting an effective process.

You must follow:聽

• relevant rules in your charity鈥檚 governing document
• legal rules about who is allowed to be a trustee
• your trustee recruitment policy if your charity has one

Your decisions must be in the best interests of your charity. Use our聽decision-making guidance聽to help you.

Check and follow governing document rules聽

Before you start looking for new trustees, check your charity鈥檚 governing document. It may say:

• what is the lowest number of trustees that your charity must have, and if there is an upper limit
• how long trustees can be in post
• if other organisations can appoint trustees of your charity
• if your charity鈥檚 members must elect some or all of your trustees
• what process you must follow to appoint new trustees

Your governing document may also say who can be a trustee of your charity. For example, it may say that some or all of your trustees must:

• live in a certain place
• be a member of a particular religion
• be your charity鈥檚 service users

You must follow what your governing document says. If you don鈥檛 do this, your trustee decisions may be invalid.

You can usually change governing document rules that no longer work for your charity.

Read guidance about the rules you must follow if you change your charity鈥檚 governing document.聽 聽

Always have enough trustees to form a quorate meeting聽

Your quorum for trustee meetings is the number of trustees who must attend to make valid decisions. It might be set as a minimum number or a percentage.

Check your charity鈥檚 governing document to find out its quorum for trustee meetings. This may be different from your quorum for member meetings.

Always have enough trustees to form your quorum for trustee meetings. Take extra care about this when trustees are leaving your charity. 聽

You cannot usually make valid trustee decisions at meetings that are not quorate. But check your governing document for any exceptions to this.

Your quorum rules may no longer work for your charity. If so, you can change your governing document..

Think about the skills, experience, and knowledge that your charity needs from its trustees 聽

You can think about your charity鈥檚: purpose, beneficiaries, plans, opportunities and challenges. Consider its short and long-term needs.

You don鈥檛 need to wait for a vacancy before you carry out this process. Regularly exploring what your charity needs from its trustee board (sometimes called a 鈥渟kills audit鈥�) can help you to:聽聽聽

• identify the skills, experience and knowledge that you already have. Your current trustees may have skills and experience that you are unaware of聽聽
• identify any gaps that you need to recruit for

You can also use the information from your skills audit when you are:

• writing a trustee role description
• setting your criteria for selecting new trustees
• planning for future vacancies

You may need to recruit more than one trustee to get the further skills and experience that you have decided your trustee board needs.

Consider writing a list of the skills, experience and knowledge that your trustee board needs

Your list may include a mix of the following:

• knowledge or experience of your charity鈥檚 field of work. For example, experience of working in or using a counselling or housing service聽
• specific skills or experience. For example, in finance, governance, safeguarding, digital or risk 聽
• particular behaviour or qualities. For example, commitment to your charity鈥檚 purposes and values, or being able to play an active part in discussions聽
• knowledge or experience of the people, communities or local areas that your charity serves
• personal or first-hand experience of the cause your charity works on. This is sometimes called 鈥渓ived experience鈥�
• the experience of people who currently use your charity鈥檚 services or facilities, or who are close to someone who does. This is sometimes called being a 鈥渦ser trustee鈥�

This does not mean that your trustee board can have experts to cover every topic, event or viewpoint. It鈥檚 about having a skilled and balanced group of people who, together, can run your charity effectively.

You can match your approach to your charity鈥檚 situation. For smaller or less complex charities the skills audit can be quite simple. Larger or more complex charities may need a more formal approach.

You may find some of these useful when you are working on a skills audit.

Consider the mix of backgrounds and perspectives of your trustee board

Separately from your skills audit, you can also consider the mix of backgrounds, characteristics and perspectives on your trustee board.

For example, you may decide that your charity would benefit from the skills and perspective of some young trustees.

Having a diverse range of backgrounds, characteristics and perspectives on your board can help you to: 聽聽

• consider issues from a wider range of viewpoints
• have more varied debate and challenge, and so avoid 鈥済roupthink鈥� when you make decisions
• reach and stay connected to the needs of your beneficiaries
• show your funders and other stakeholders that your charity鈥檚 actions and practices are inclusive 聽

You can choose to audit your trustee board鈥檚 diversity to help you to think about:

• if your charity would benefit from a more diverse trustee board
• if trustee roles at your charity are attractive and accessible to a wide range of people
• how to reach a wider range of candidates, with the skills, experience and perspectives you are looking for

Remember that your governing document may set rules about who can be a trustee of your charity. For example, it may say that some or all of your trustees must be members of a particular religion.

Always follow and .

You can read more about .

Other people or organisations with a role in appointing your trustees

Your charity鈥檚 current trustees may not have the final say about new appointments. For example, your charity鈥檚 governing document may say that some trustees must be: 聽聽

• nominated by a local authority
• elected by your members

To help make sure that trustee appointments are in the best interests of your charity, you can consider:

• informing members and appointing bodies about the skills and experience you are looking for, and why
• sharing candidate profiles with members before elections
• asking an appointing body for more than one candidate. This is so that you can state a preference based on your role description

Consider setting term limits for trustees

Term limits say how long a person can stay on your trustee board.

You should consider whether to set term limits for trustees. These may already be included in your charity鈥檚 governing document.

Term limits help your trustee board to:聽

• regularly bring in new ideas, skills and perspectives
• have a mix of experienced and new trustees
• lower risks that your charity becomes set in its ways
• lower risks that, because of their long service, individuals either become dominant or contribute less

Equality law

If your charity is paid by a public authority to deliver services, check if apply to your trustee recruitment.

Remove barriers that may limit your candidate pool聽

Your board can benefit if you can reach a wider range of candidates. Practical ways to encourage this include:

• advertising widely
• holding your trustee meetings at a place and time that works for more people
• holding some of your trustee meetings remotely. You may need to change your governing document to allow you to do this
• being clear that trustees can claim their reasonable expenses. For example, for travel or childcare
• being clear that you will provide the reasonable adjustments or other support that people may need. For example, translation services or sign language 聽
• only asking for previous board experience if you鈥檙e sure you need it
• showing that your charity welcomes, includes and develops its trustees

Write a trustee role description

Writing a role description for trustees can help when you are:

• advertising trustee vacancies
• discussing the role with candidates
• shortlisting and interviewing candidates

Consider including the following in your trustee role description:

• the legal responsibilities that trustees have聽聽 聽
• what is involved in being a trustee of your charity
• any specific duties that the role has. For example, chair or treasurer
• the skills and experience that you have decided your charity needs on its trustee board, and why. Only include the experience that you need. Consider what can be learnt in the role with the right support
• the behaviours and qualities that your charity expects from its trustees
• how much time you expect trustees to spend on their role. Be specific about this. Include the time commitment needed beyond formal meetings 聽聽
• term limits. This means how long people can stay on your trustee board聽

You can use or adapt this .

Advertise your trustee vacancy聽

Consider using open and inclusive ways of finding new trustees

You are more likely to attract a wider range of people if you don鈥檛 only:

• rely on informal or word of mouth ways of finding new trustees
• approach people from the same groups, communities or networks
• use personal connections

You can think about how and where you could advertise your trustee vacancy to improve your chances of attracting suitable candidates.

For example, you could advertise the vacancy:

• on your charity鈥檚 website and social media
• in local or national press
• in your charity鈥檚 newsletter
• on local notice boards, and at local outlets such as libraries
• in specialist publications, such as charity press
• to students
• to charities and community organisations that do similar work
• to professional networks in other sectors
• with employers
• to your charity鈥檚 volunteers, members or other communities

Your charity can pay to advertise your vacancy.

You can also pay for specialist agency help to recruit trustees.

Some organisations offer free or discounted trustee finder services. These can advertise your vacancy or help you to connect to people who are looking for a trustee role. This gives some of the options.聽 聽

Your local Council for Voluntary Service may also have an online trustee finder. NAVCA .

What to think about for your advertisement

For your advertisement, you can:

• describe your charity鈥檚 work, to inspire interest
• explain how your charity makes a difference to a cause or community
• say what trustees do and the responsibilities involved
• describe the skills, experience and background that your charity is looking for
• be clear if your charity is open to supporting and
• be clear that you welcome applications from a wide range of people
• use plain language

Assessing candidates聽

You can consider:

• how you will shortlist candidates against your role description.
• how you will select from shortlisted candidates. For example, if you will hold interviews. Again, you can use your role description
• who at your charity will be involved
• how you will help people to ask about and understand the role
• how to make your selection process fair, inclusive and positive. Even if they don鈥檛 join your board, candidates鈥� experience of your process may influence their view of your charity and whether they apply for other trustee roles

You can read more about .

Further reading about charity trustee recruitment.

There are many free online resources that you can use. Good places to start are:

• . The Code includes best practice standards on: considering what skills a trustee board needs, advertising vacancies, and setting term limits for trustees
• resources offered by your local Council for Voluntary Service. NAVCA

Make required checks before appointing new trustees

The law says that some people cannot be a charity trustee.

You must not appoint a person who is not allowed by law to be a trustee.

The minimum age limit for trustees

Trustees must be:

• 18 years or over if your charity is unincorporated. For example, if it is a trust
• 16 years or over if your charity is incorporated. For example, if your charity is a company or Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

People who are disqualified from being a charity trustee

The law disqualifies some people from acting as a trustee.

include but are not limited to:

• being bankrupt or having an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA)
• having an unspent conviction for some offences, including dishonesty or deception offences
• being on the sex offenders鈥� register
• being disqualified directly by the Charity Commission

You can only appoint a disqualified person if you first apply for, and receive, a waiver from the Commission.

Find out more about the trustee disqualification rules.

Make disqualification and other checks before you appoint new trustees

You must ask potential trustees to make a written declaration that they are not disqualified. Do this before you appoint them. You can use this .

This is the minimum action you should take to find out if a person is disqualified.

You should also check official registers such as:

• the insolvency register
• the disqualified directors register

Get relevant checks for trustee positions that require them

罢丑别听Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) carries out criminal records checks.聽 You can use these checks to find out if a person is eligible and suitable to be a trustee of your charity.

If your charity works with children or adults at risk, before appointing a trustee:

• you must always get a DBS standard, enhanced, or enhanced with barred list check when the role is eligible for one
• if the role is not eligible for a standard or enhanced check, get a basic check if your risk assessment says that you should

Find out what checks are available from the聽Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Use the DBS聽eligibility checker听补苍诲听guidance leaflets聽to decide what checks to make.

Find out more about how charities must safeguard and protect people.

Mental capacity

Trustees must be people who are considered capable of managing their own affairs.

A person cannot be appointed or continue as a trustee if either:

• they are subject to a lasting power of attorney
• a court has said they are no longer capable of managing their own affairs

Consider if further checks are appropriate

Trustee appointments are important.

This means that you may decide that further background checks are appropriate before you appoint a trustee.

You should usually collect and check references. These may be personal or from an employer.

You may also decide to ask about or check a candidate鈥檚:

• public social media profiles
• other aspects of their public digital presence, such as blogs

It is up to you to decide if such further checks are appropriate for your charity. You must identify all the factors that are relevant to your decision. Some example factors that you may need to balance are: 聽聽

• risks to your charity鈥檚 reputation
• your responsibility to safeguard your beneficiaries
• how you will verify information
• how you will comply with data protection and legal rules about free speech
• how you will inform candidates and get their agreement

If you decide on further background checks, you should set a trustee recruitment policy if your charity does not have one.

Including your approach in your formal policy will help you to be clear about why you do or don鈥檛 make particular checks and the process you follow.聽

You should take advice if you are unsure.

Ask about potential conflicts of interest before you appoint trustees聽

Discuss potential conflicts of interest with candidates. If they declare a potential conflict, this does not mean that you should not appoint them. Conflicts of interest are common. They affect charities of all types and sizes.

But, as trustees, you must consider how the conflict may affect your ability to make decisions in the best interests of your charity.

Some appointments may bring conflicts of interest that are more serious or frequent. For example, a new appointment might mean that too many of your charity鈥檚 trustees:聽

• are related to each other
• have a financial or other connection to an organisation that your charity works with
• are your service users, or have a close relationship with one of your service users

Before you appoint a new trustee who has a potential conflict of interest, you should consider:

• how serious the conflict of interest will be
• if the appointment will increase the number of conflicted trustees at your charity
• if, and how, you will be able to manage the conflict. For example, consider if you will have enough unconflicted trustees to form a quorum

In some cases, it will be appropriate to not appoint a person likely to be affected by frequent or serious conflicts.

Find out more about conflicts of interest and how you must identify and manage them.

Inform new trustees about their legal responsibilities

Make sure that new trustees are clear about:

• the legal responsibilities that trustees have
• your charity鈥檚 purposes and aims
• what its governing document says

Acting together in the best interests of your charity 聽

All trustees should understand that:

• trustees are responsible together for all decisions about a charity. For example, all trustees are responsible for your charity鈥檚 money, even if you have a trustee with financial expertise
• trustees do not act on behalf of a person or organisation that nominated or elected them. These trustees, must (like all trustees) act only in the best interests of your charity
• trustees do not act solely on behalf of any viewpoint. For example, your charity may recruit a trustee partly because of their lived or service user experience. These trustees have equal standing with the other trustees. Their role and duties are the same.

Appoint new trustees

Your charity鈥檚 governing document will usually say how you must appoint new trustees.

Appointments may be by one or more of the following: 聽

• the current trustees of your charity
• your charity鈥檚 members
• people or organisations that have a right to appoint trustees. For example, a local authority

Trustees can also be ex officio. This means that they become a charity trustee automatically because of a post they hold. For example, a governing document may say that the headteacher of a school is one of a charity鈥檚 trustees. 聽聽

You must follow what your governing document says about:

• who can appoint trustees
• how they must do this

If your charity does not appoint trustees correctly this may:

• lead to damaging disputes
• mean that your decisions are not valid

Take advice if you are unsure about how to appoint trustees.

Who to tell about new trustee appointments

As soon as possible after the appointment, you:

• must update your charity鈥檚 register page using My Charity Commission Account. Add the details of the new trustee and remove those of any trustees who have left
• must tell Companies House about trustee appointments if you are a company. Follow the time-limits for this
• should consider who else to inform. For example, your charity鈥檚 auditors, advisers and funders

New trustees will receive a welcome pack from the Commission.

Other actions after a new trustee appointment

As soon as possible after the appointment, you should:

• change bank mandates if the new trustee will be a charity account signatory
• check if you need to transfer any charity property held in trustee names to the name of the new trustee. If so, you should also update Land Registry records

Welcome, include and develop new trustees

As trustees, you are responsible together for making sure that everyone on your trustee board:

• is included and able to make their contribution
• has the information and support they need to help run your charity effectively

You can do this by having a good induction process for new trustees. This will help them to:聽

• understand their legal responsibilities
• find out how your charity works and any opportunities and challenges it has
• contribute to its effective running as quickly as possible

A positive start can also help your charity to keep trustees for their full term.

Prepare an information pack for new trustees

You should provide the following to a new trustee:

• your charity鈥檚 governing document
• its latest annual report and accounts
• its latest management accounts and budgets
• minutes of recent trustee meetings
• your charity鈥檚 key policies. For example: on safeguarding, expenses, conflicts of interest, social media and internal financial controls
• documents about your charity鈥檚 plans, priorities and values
• any other documents that will help the trustee to understand your charity and their role
• Commission guidance about the key responsibilities of a charity trustee
• five-minute guides on what all trustees need to know

Where needed, plan when you will explain the role and purpose of each document.

Check if your governing document says that you must give specific information to new trustees.

Introduce new trustees to your charity鈥檚 people and work聽

Introduce new trustees to key people at your charity. For example, the other trustees and key employees.

The following may also be appropriate over time:

• visits to see your charity鈥檚 services and projects
• meetings with your charity鈥檚 beneficiaries
• meeting your charity鈥檚 funders, stakeholders and advisers

Ask the individual what would help them to participate fully.

Including new trustees

You can review how you operate as a board, and if you need to change anything.聽

For example, you can think about:

• the length and format of your meetings
• if discussions and papers are in straightforward language
• sharing board papers in good time so that new trustees have enough time to prepare
• if all trustees are able to contribute

People joining your trustee board will have different needs. For example, you may recruit someone who has not been a trustee before.

At the outset, you can discuss with each new trustee:聽

• what information and learning they need to become an effective trustee
• how you can help them to get this in their first year at your charity

Consider having regular discussions with the new trustee about:聽

• how they are adapting to their new role
• what they need to support their effective contribution

Discussions might be with your charity鈥檚 chair, or another trustee or mentor.

This can help you to keep trustees for their full term.

Consider what training all your trustees need聽

Plan to train, support and develop all your trustees, as you would with employees. 聽

For example, you can consider:聽

• individual training courses
• sessions for all trustees
• briefings or workshops as part of trustee meetings

Encourage trustees to read Charity Commission guidance.

Further reading and resources 聽

Resources

Here are the resources we signpost to in this guidance:

• guidance
• guidance
• resources offered by your local Council for Voluntary Service. NAVCA
• resources offered by

Free or discounted trustee finder services

This lists some of the options.聽聽

Your local Council for Voluntary Service may also have an online trustee finder. NAVCA