Do Charity Trustees Have Employment Law Responsibilities?

The short answer is yes. And most don't know it.

Charity trustees are the people in overall control and management of a charity. The Charity Commission is clear: trustees are responsible for making sure that staff are treated properly and fairly, that the charity complies with employment law, and that appropriate oversight is in place — even where day-to-day management is delegated to a CEO or senior team.

That last part is important. Delegation doesn't remove responsibility. If the CEO handles a dismissal badly, or a grievance is mismanaged, or contracts haven't been updated in five years, the trustees are accountable for having allowed that to happen without adequate governance.

In practice, most charity boards don't have HR expertise around the table. Finance gets scrutinised at every meeting. Safeguarding has a dedicated lead. But people management — the thing that generates the most expensive risks — often falls into a gap where nobody's quite sure who's responsible.

What trustees are actually responsible for

The Charity Commission's essential trustee guidance sets out six main duties for trustees. Several of them touch directly on employment and people management.

Acting with reasonable care and skill. This means making informed decisions — including about employment matters. A trustee who waves through a redundancy programme without understanding the legal requirements isn't meeting this standard.

Managing the charity's resources responsibly. Staff are a charity's biggest resource and biggest cost. Trustees need to understand headcount, turnover, absence, pay structures, and the financial exposure that comes with employment disputes.

Ensuring accountability. Trustees must ensure that staff — and particularly the CEO — are accountable to the board. That means having proper performance management in place, not just for operational staff but for the most senior person in the organisation. Failing to manage CEO performance is one of the most common governance weaknesses the Charity Commission identifies.

Complying with the law. Employment law applies to charities in exactly the same way as it does to any other employer. Trustees need to be confident — not just hopeful — that contracts, policies, and practices are legally compliant.

Where it goes wrong

In our experience as trustees ourselves — Jason has served on the boards of the Children's Heart Surgery Fund and Age UK Sheffield — the common failure points are predictable.

The board doesn't receive HR information. If trustees never see data on staff turnover, absence rates, open grievances, or upcoming contract changes, they can't exercise meaningful oversight. They don't know what they don't know.

A serious incident happens and the board has to react rather than lead. A safeguarding concern involving a member of staff. A tribunal claim. A whistleblowing disclosure. If the first time the board engages with people management is when something's gone wrong, they're already exposed.

The CEO is managing everything and nobody's checking. In smaller charities, the CEO often handles HR alongside everything else. That's understandable — but if no trustee is asking whether processes are being followed, whether contracts are up to date, whether the charity is compliant with current employment law, the board has a blind spot.

Trustees make well-intentioned but legally risky decisions. Agreeing to pay someone off to avoid a confrontation. Dismissing someone without following process because "we all know they weren't performing." Agreeing to change someone's terms without understanding TUPE implications. These decisions get made by boards that care deeply about their charity but lack the employment law knowledge to understand the consequences.

What good looks like

It doesn't require every trustee to become an HR expert. It requires the board to have a mechanism for getting proper people advice — either a trustee with HR expertise, a dedicated HR committee, or an external HR advisor who can attend board meetings and provide assurance.

At a minimum, the board should receive regular reporting on headcount, turnover, absence, open casework, and any upcoming employment changes. The CEO should have a formal performance review at least annually. The board should have confidence that the charity's employment policies are current and legally compliant. And there should be a clear plan for who handles serious people issues when they arise — not an assumption that the CEO will work it out.

We work with charity boards across Sheffield, South Yorkshire and the UK to provide exactly this kind of senior HR assurance. If your board has a gap where people governance should be, a discovery call would be a useful starting point.