Changes to 'The essential trustee (CC3)'
Published 25 November 2014
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2014
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-essential-trustee-cc3-new-version/changes-to-the-essential-trustee-cc3
1. What has changed
The most significant change is a new explanation of what the commission expects of trustees. Commission guidance currently distinguishes between legal requirements (what trustees ‘must’ do) and good practice (what trustees ‘should’ do). Some trustees and their advisors have been unclear whether they need to follow the specified good practice; some have treated this good practice as merely optional.
This was never the commission’s intention. Many of the examples of good practice are applications of wider legal requirements that trustees must meet. Trustees who don’t follow the specified good practice are at risk of breaching their legal duties.
The commission wants to make it clearer that it expects trustees to comply with specified good practice unless they can justify not doing so (for example by complying in a different way). If trustees can’t justify why they haven’t followed good practice, the commission is likely to treat this as misconduct or mismanagement.
This shouldn’t affect most charity trustees, who already take their role seriously. It will help the commission to deal more effectively with cases of negligence or deliberate wrongdoing.
Other changes include:
- better layout for reading online (printable version available)
- linking to other guidance to avoid repetition
- reflecting the commission’s current position and priorities as charity regulator
- highlighting what can go wrong and how to avoid it
- emphasising that it’s for all charity trustees, not just trustees of registered charities
For technical reasons we can only publish the consultation version in PDF; the final version will be published in both HTML (web text) and PDF.
2. What hasn’t changed
Trustees’ basic legal responsibilities haven’t changed. Nor has the commission’s role as regulator. The commission must still promote compliance by charity trustees with their legal obligations. One of the main ways the commission does this is to produce guidance for trustees. The commission isn’t asking whether it should produce this guidance.