www.gov.uk/guidance/trustee-board-people-and-skills?step-by-step-nav=3dd66b86-ce29-4f31-bfa2-a5a18b877f11#check-prospective-trustees-are-eligible
Check prospective trustees are eligible
You must be at least 18 years old to be a charity trustee (16 if your charity is a company or charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)).
Some people are disqualified by law from acting as charity trustees. Subject to waiver provisions, this includes anyone who:
has an unspent conviction for an offence involving dishonesty or deception
is currently declared bankrupt (or is subject to bankruptcy restrictions or an interim order) or has an individual voluntary agreement (IVA) with creditors
is disqualified from being a company director
has previously been removed as a trustee by either the commission or the High Court due to misconduct or mismanagement
Trustee role and responsibilities
As trustees, you must:
always act in the best interests of the charity – you must not let your personal interests, views or prejudices affect your conduct as a trustee
act reasonably and responsibly in all matters relating to your charity – act with as much care as if you were dealing with your own affairs, taking advice if you need it
only use your charity’s income and property for the purposes set out in its governing document
make decisions in line with good practice and the rules set by your charity’s governing document, including excluding any trustee who has a conflict of interest from discussions or decision-making on the matter
Risks and trustee liability
You can be liable to your charity if you act unlawfully or negligently as a trustee.
Although your charity might run up debts or other liabilities as a result of decisions you make, you and the other trustees won’t be liable if you have:
1 acted lawfully, responsibly and reasonably
2 followed the rules in your charity’s governing document
3 taken reasonable steps to manage risks
But if you can’t prove this, you could be ‘in breach of trust’ to your own charity.
Trustees act jointly when running a charity, so the trustees as a group would be liable to repay any loss to the charity
This is where the charities commission comes in.
If the ICO put out a damning report saying trustees have broken the law in a big way, this puts pressure on the charities commission. Since they are now involved after its been raised as a serious incident, then you would expect them to follow the direction of the ICOs findings and ruling. It give the charities commission some weight to do something, and makes it harder for them to ignore other concerns in other areas about the governance of the charity.