UK Charity Trustee Duties Explained 2026: The Six CC3 Duties, in Plain English

A plain-English walk-through of the six trustee duties under Charity Commission CC3 and the Charities Act 2011 — with practical examples and a free trustee induction checklist.

Last reviewed: 27/05/2026
Written by Ivan Siyanko, Founder & CEO, CharityIQ.

TL;DR
– UK charity trustees have six legal duties under Charity Commission CC3 guidance and the Charities Act 2011.
– These duties apply collectively to the whole board — but each trustee is individually responsible for understanding them.
– Most trustee disqualification cases stem from one of three duties: managing resources responsibly, acting in the charity’s best interests, and ensuring accountability.
– This post explains all six in plain English, gives examples of breaches, and provides a free 30-minute induction checklist for new trustees.

Who counts as a trustee

A trustee is anyone responsible for the governance of a registered charity in England or Wales. The legal label varies by structure:

Trust — “trustees”
Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) — “charity trustees”
Charitable company limited by guarantee — “directors” who are also “charity trustees” — they have BOTH Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011 duties simultaneously
Unincorporated association — “management committee members” or similar; the Charities Act treats them as trustees

Whatever the title, the Charity Commission’s CC3 guidance applies to all of them.

If you have authority to make decisions about the charity’s resources, activities, or strategic direction, you are a trustee — regardless of what your role is called on the website.

The six duties — a quick map

The six duties, as set out in CC3, are:

Ensure your charity carries out its purposes for the public benefit
Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law
Act in your charity’s best interests
Manage your charity’s resources responsibly
Act with reasonable care and skill
Ensure your charity is accountable

These are legal duties, not aspirations. Breaching them can lead to: a Charity Commission warning, regulatory inquiry, removal as a trustee, and in serious cases, disqualification from being a trustee for years.

Most trustees never come close to breach because they exercise reasonable judgement and engage with the work. The duties are written to set the standard, not to catch out volunteers who care about the cause. Let’s walk through each one.

Duty 1 — Ensure your charity carries out its purposes for the public benefit

Every UK charity has “charitable objects” — the purposes for which it was registered. These are written into the governing document.

Trustees must ensure the charity’s actual activities serve those purposes, and that the resulting benefit reaches the public (or a sufficient section of it).

Common breach: “Mission creep” — when programmes evolve into activities the charity wasn’t established to do. Solution: amend the governing document (Charity Commission approval needed for material changes) before the activity, not after.

The public benefit guidance is its own document. The short version: your beneficiary group must include at least a sufficient section of the public, and the benefit must be real (not just claimed).

Duty 2 — Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law

Your governing document sets out: charitable objects, trustee election rules, meeting requirements, decision-making procedures. Trustees must follow these. If you’ve never read your governing document, that’s the single highest-priority gap.

The relevant law includes Charities Act 2011, Companies Act 2006 (for charitable companies), Equality Act 2010, UK GDPR + the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, Health & Safety, safeguarding, tax law, and sector-specific laws.

Common breach: filing the annual return late.

Duty 3 — Act in your charity’s best interests

Trustees must put the charity’s interests first. Not their own, not their employer’s, not their friend’s, not even (sometimes) their beneficiary’s individual interest if it conflicts with the charity’s wider purpose.

This is the duty that most often runs into conflicts of interest. Every trustee board needs a written conflicts policy and a register of declared interests. When a conflict arises, the conflicted trustee usually steps out of the discussion and the decision; the rest of the board makes the call.

Common breach: undisclosed conflicts.

Duty 4 — Manage your charity’s resources responsibly

This duty covers financial management, reserves, fundraising compliance, and protection of the charity’s assets. Trustees must set and review a reserves policy, approve budgets, ensure proper financial controls, and protect both physical and intangible assets.

CFG (Charity Finance Group) publishes excellent free guidance for trustees. The Charity Commission’s CC8 (Internal financial controls) is a good starting point.

Common breach: trustees signing off accounts they don’t understand. The phrase trustees should remember: “If you don’t understand it, ask.”

Duty 5 — Act with reasonable care and skill

The legal phrase is “reasonable care, skill, and diligence.” What’s reasonable depends on the circumstances and the trustee’s own skills and experience.

Practical implications: read your board papers before meetings, ask questions, get advice when needed, and document decisions. Minutes that record the basis for a decision (not just the decision) protect both the charity and the individual trustees.

Common breach: rubber-stamping management decisions.

Duty 6 — Ensure your charity is accountable

The final duty has two audiences: regulators, and the public.

To regulators: file the annual return on time (10 months after year-end), file accounts and Trustees’ Annual Report, keep the public register accurate, and report serious incidents promptly.

To the public: publish accurate information, respond to enquiries, don’t mislead donors, be transparent about senior staff salaries.

Common breach: failing to report a serious incident. The Charity Commission’s serious incident reporting guidance sets out what counts. When in doubt, report.

From CharityIQ. Most trustee duty breaches are recoverable if caught early. CharityIQ’s compliance module flags overdue filings, missing policies, and reserves anomalies. See compliance →

A 30-minute trustee induction checklist

Every new trustee should complete this within 30 days of appointment.

Document review (about an hour): Read the governing document end to end, the most recent Trustees’ Annual Report and accounts, the latest annual return on the Charity Register, and Charity Commission CC3.

Conversations (about an hour): Conversations with the chair, treasurer, and CEO/Director.

Practical: Sign the conflicts of interest declaration, receive copies of key policies, ensure your name on the Charity Register, and set up access to the board document store.

Ongoing: Subscribe to the Charity Commission e-newsletter, identify training in the first 6 months.

When trustees can be paid

The default: trustees serve unpaid. Reasonable expenses can always be reimbursed.

Trustees can be paid for services only with specific conditions met (governing document allows it, Commission approval, majority of board unpaid, conflicted trustee not in decision). Paid trusteeship requires Charity Commission consent — granted rarely.

Frequently asked questions

Can I be a trustee if I’m bankrupt? Some bankrupts and people with certain unspent convictions are automatically disqualified.

Can I delegate my duties? You can delegate execution but not responsibility.

How long should a trustee serve? The Charity Governance Code recommends typically 9 years (3 × 3-year terms).

Trustee vs director? For charitable companies, the same person is BOTH a trustee under charity law and a director under company law. Both Charities Act 2011 and Companies Act 2006 apply.

DBS checks? Only if in regulated activity with children or vulnerable adults. Many charities check trustees as good practice.

What to do if you think you’ve breached a duty

Don’t panic. Most issues are recoverable.

Tell the chair immediately
Document what happened
Take advice
Self-report if necessary — the Commission treats charities that report issues much more leniently than those that hide them

Compliance built into the workflow. Start a free 14-day CharityIQ trial. Trustee tracking, deadline reminders, board pack drafting. Start free trial →

Written by Ivan Siyanko, founder of CharityIQ.

Sources:
– Charity Commission CC3
– Charities Act 2011
– CC8
– CC11
– NCVO — The legal duties of trustees