The role of a charity trustee is broad and at times cumbersome. The value of the contribution that a trustee makes to a charity is often under-appreciated. Individuals may take on the role with the best of intentions, but often they may have little understanding of what it entails and of the potential personal liability.
The Charity Commission’s recent decision to disqualify one of the trustees of the charity known as ‘Palestinian Refugee Project’ due to her mismanagement/misconduct of the charity should come as a valuable reminder to charity trustees of their position.
The charity trustees have overall control of the charity and are responsible for managing the organisation and ensuring it's doing what it was set up to do. They must comply with a number of duties including:
If charity trustees fail to meet their obligations and they have either acted dishonestly and/or unreasonably, they can be held personally liable and be required to compensate the charity for any financial loss suffered as a result.
The Charity Commission is the regulator for the 170,000 registered charities in England and Wales. The commission is responsible for ensuring that charities meet their legal requirements. It will take enforcement action where there is malpractice or misconduct. The commission produces extensive and detailed guidance to help charities and their trustees to develop high standards of governance and to avoid malpractice. The commission’s guidance can be found here.
In the case of the Palestinian Refugee Project, the Charity Commission began examining the charity following concerns being raised in respect of its social media activity.
During its investigation, the commission also identified that the charity’s then trustees all appeared to be related, which created concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Further concerns were raised as a result of the trustees’ responses to questions posed by the commission, which revealed an apparent lack of understanding of their legal duties and responsibilities - for example, the importance of trustees acting and making decisions collectively. It was discovered that the charity’s CEO had used the charity’s social media platforms to promote political material which was not in line with the charity’s aims and was divisive and inflammatory. The commission found that the charity had no formal social media policy in place and that the other trustees lacked oversight in respect of the CEO’s actions.
On 4 June 2025 the commission issued a press release to confirm that it had disqualified the CEO trustee from acting as a trustee or holding an office or employment in a senior management function in any charity in England & Wales for eight years as a result of her role in the charity’s mismanagement. The commission also found that the charity had insufficient financial controls, which had resulted in funds being spent without proper authorisation.
At the time of writing, the case in respect of the charity’s failings and potential mismanagement is still ongoing.
The full report of the inquiry is available here.
It's not unusual for trustees of smaller charities to get caught out as a result of being poorly informed and inadequately trained to manage and run their charity. A very useful resource for trustees can be found in the Charity Commissions’ guidance note – The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do. This note provides useful, detailed guidance on charity trustees’ duties, liabilities and how to reduce the risk of personal liability. It's also recommended that trustees obtain bespoke advice and training to put them in the best position possible and to ensure that they are able to meet their obligations.
The Ashfords charity team provides training and advice to help charity trustees with their obligations. For further information, or if you require assistance with a dispute of this nature, please contact our disputed wills and trusts team.
