Charity Trustee Duties
Introduction
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The Act establishes OSCR as the statutory regulator of the charity sector, with enhanced powers and responsibilities, including the responsibility for facilitating and encouraging compliance with the new legislation. This guidance is one in a series of publications which are intended to assist charity trustees and others to navigate their way through the principles and the specific requirements of the new legislation.
The focus in this guidance is on the duties and responsibilities of charity trustees in Scotland. It also offers examples of good practice in the governance of charities which should help charity trustees fulfil their duties and responsibilities.
Download OSCR's Guidance for charity trustees
Who is this guidance for?
This guidance is for trustees of all Scottish charities, i.e. organisations entered in the Scottish Charity Register maintained by OSCR.
Depending on the individual charity and its legal form, the charity trustees may be called board members, directors, management committee members, trustees or whatever is relevant to the charity. Whatever the terminology used by the charity, for the purposes of the legislation, the group of people who manage and control the charity are known as “charity trustees”. The term “charity trustee” will be used throughout this guidance.
The guidance is written principally with the charity trustees of small to medium-sized charities in mind (i.e. charities with an income below £500,000) because they make up the great majority of charities in Scotland. However, the guidance should also prove useful to charity trustees of larger charities.
Download OSCR's Guidance for charity trustees
How to use the guidance
The key reason for providing this guidance is to assist charity trustees to understand what is expected of them, as individuals and collectively, under the Act. The guidance is intended to be used in a number of ways:
- as a document for a charity’s trustees to read, so as to ensure they know about their duties and understand their legal responsibilities. This would be especially important when an organisation applies to join the Scottish Charity Register
- as part of the information prepared for new or potential charity trustees, for example as part
of an induction pack - as the basis for handouts and other resource material for use in training courses on governance in charities
This guidance can both be used as a reference to help with particular questions and concerns, or it can be read all the way through. The guidance covers eight topics, presented in separate sections:
- who are charity trustees? This includes who may qualify and who are disqualified
- the general duties of charity trustees as required by the new charity legislation
- the specific duties of charity trustees as required by the new charity legislation
- charity trustee remuneration (i.e. payments or benefits in kind given to charity trustees other
than for out-of-pocket expenses) - the investment powers of trustees of trusts, including charitable trusts
- the consequences of misconduct or “breach of duty” or if the requirements of OSCR are persistently not met
- a checklist of duties and responsibilities linked to practical examples of good practice suggestions as to where to obtain more information and assistance
