Trustee Obligations reaffirmed following the Rankine Judgement 2 April 2025: A brief case overview and a summary of trustees’ legal duties…

Trustee Obligations reaffirmed following the Rankine Judgement [2 April 2025]: A brief case overview and a summary of trustees’ legal duties…

On 2nd April 2025, the First-tier Tribunal upheld an order made by the Charity Commission disqualifying an individual from being a charity trustee or holding office or employment with senior management functions in relation to charities in England and Wales for a period of nine and a half years.

In this instance, the trustees of Homeschool School Enterprise updated their charity objects at Companies House but failed to update the Charity Commission or obtain their prior approval to the changes made.

The case serves as an important reminder of the responsibilities of trustees and the serious penalties the Charity Commission can apply when these are not followed.

As the Rankine judgement clearly shows, trustees are the decision makers and are equally responsible for delivering the charity’s objects; none of the trustees should take a passive role and allow others to make the decisions. Charity trustees must act jointly not unilaterally.
Trustees’ duties apply just the same whether you are a trustee of small local charity or of large national charity. If you are considering becoming a trustee or you are looking to refresh your understanding, you might like to think about the following:

Trustees must ensure that everything the charity does is done with the intention to help the charity achieve its purpose…Do you have a clear understanding of your charity’s purpose?
Trustees must ensure that the charity always complies with its government document and charity law. Are you familiar with your charity’s governing document?
Trustees must always act in the charities best interest. In the Rankine judgement the charity was operating a foodbank, hostel, homeless outreach and Christian ministry which while all sounding charitable, they did not further the charity’s objects. Therefore, this was held to be “misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the Charity by the appellant” (the Trustee).Have you thought about your charity’s activities and do they advance its objects?
Trustees must undertake careful financial management to protect the charity’s assets and avoid unnecessary risks. This was considered in the Rankine judgement. Trustees must show a clear audit trail when making decisions that affect the charity’s assets. Are your decisions that involve your charity’s assets being appropriately recorded?
All trustees must act with reasonable care and skill at all times. Are all of your trustees engaging in the decisions made by the board or are one or two trustees being relied on?
Trustees must ensure the charity is accountable by complying with statutory accounting and reporting requirements. In Rankine, the Commission was not notified when it should have been, all charities must do this.

If you are a charity trustee, now is the perfect time to review your charities practices and governing documents. If you wish to ensure your fulfilling your trustee duties with care and confidence, we can help. Please contact [javascript protected email address] or [javascript protected email address] in our Charities team who are happy to discuss this further.

Case reference: Rankine v Charity Commission for England & Wales [2025] UKFTT 387 (GRC) (02 April 2025)

The information on this site about legal matters is provided as a general guide only. Although we try to ensure that all of the information on this site is accurate and up to date, this cannot be guaranteed. The information on this site should not be relied upon or construed as constituting legal advice and Howes Percival LLP disclaims liability in relation to its use. You should seek appropriate legal advice before taking or refraining from taking any action.

Get in touch

To contact us, please fill out this form and we will get back in touch as soon as possible. Your personal data will be processed in accordance with our privacy policy which can be found here.

Thank you for your enquiry. We will respond as soon as possible.

First Name

Last Name

Phone Number

Location

Email Address

Service Required:

Message