Charity Law

The legal obligations placed upon the trustees and directors of charities are burdensome. The secret to complying with these effectively is planning and ensuring that the charity keeps key issues under regular review. The matters which require consideration will naturally vary to some extent depending upon the nature of the charitable organisation, its size and resources but the following are some suggestions of issues to be kept in mind:

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Staff:

• Annual staff appraisals;
• Annual salary review;
• Review of contracts of employment/staff;
• Manuals and key procedures and policies e.g. disciplinary/grievance/equality and diversity.    

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Volunteers:

• Proper training of volunteers;
• Annual appraisals;
• Ensuring that there are proper volunteer agreements in place;
• If necessary, police checking (DBS) of volunteers;
• Ensuring systems are in place to ensure compliance with procedures and policies by volunteers.

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Investments:     

• Regular review ofinvestment policy and performance.

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Financial:   

• Regular review of income and expenditure commitments;
• Approval of annual accounts/interim management accounts;
• Ensuring that the accounts are subject to independent verification (whether or not this is legally required it may be prudent risk management)    

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Strategy:     

• Preparation of annual budget;
• Approval of investment policy    

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Risk Management:     

• Review of buildings/public liability/trustees liability and other relevant insurances;
• Consideration of risk assessments, for example in relation to safety of operations/working environments/cash handling etc
• DBS checks

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Training:     

• Training plans for staff/volunteers;
• Training for trustees/directors as to their legal duties.

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‍Governance:    

• Ensuring aware of and compliance with the obligations are imposed by charity's constitution in terms of notices of meetings/voting/quorum;
• Ensure that documentary records are maintained to record issues discussed at meetings and compliance with procedural obligations is recorded.
• Checking that your constitution is up to date and still fit for purpose.

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Lawson Lewis Blakers are able to provide assist with:

• The review of charity constitutions/governing documents for a fixed fee.
• The review of employment contracts/volunteer agreements and procedures and policies.
• Training of trustees

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