Charity Commission trustee declaration form updated

Individuals must complete a declaration form to confirm they are both willing and able to act as a charity trustee on becoming trustee of a charity. The same declaration form must be completed by all first trustees of a charity when an application is made to register that charity.

The Commission has recently confirmed that its trustee declaration form has been updated. This is a result of changes in the law which came into force on 1 August 2018, which broadened the criteria on which automatic disqualification from charity trusteeship arises  - as well as introducing automatic disqualification rules for those holding a senior management position within the charity. For more on the new automatic disqualification rules, see our previous blog post. 

The updated form now requires an applicant to state that they are not prevented from acting by being either on the sex offences register or a designated person for the purposes of anti-terrorism legislation. An applicant also has to confirm that they have not been found to be in contempt of court for making (or causing to be made) a false statement.

The Charity Commission will only accept the updated declaration form as from 1 October 2018 and the old form will no longer be accepted after that date. If an old form is used for an application for charity registration after 1 October 2018, that application for registration will be returned as incomplete, which means an entire new application for registration will be required – you have been warned!