Trustee Boards
Understand how Trustee Boards support Scouts at Group, District and County level
Team Description
Purpose
The Trustee Board is a team of volunteers who work together, as charity trustees, to make sure Scouts is run safely and legally. At the heart of their role is a focus on strategy, performance and assurance. Effective Trustee Board governance helps our volunteers deliver fantastic programmes that give young people skills for life.
- Chair
- Treasurer
- Trustees
Other volunteers are automatically Trustees because of their roles in Scouts:
- Group / District / County Lead Volunteer
- District / County Youth Lead
All Trustees are equally responsible, but they might decide to split the tasks between them.
Trustees work together to make sure Groups, Districts, and Counties:
Manage money well
- Have enough money for now and in the future. This means having a reserves policy and making sure fundraising takes place, if it’s needed.
- Have a budget in place. Trustees then agree how to manage the budget with other volunteer teams.
Follow Scouts policies and relevant legislation
- Follow POR, key policies (including safety, safeguarding, data protection, and equality, diversity and inclusion), and charity regulations.
- Follow employment law if staff are employed, and act as a responsible employer in line with relevant legislation and Scout values. Make sure effective line management is in place for each staff member, which can be delegated to others.
- Create Trustees Annual Report and Statement of Accounts
- Have Statement of Accounts audited by an appropriate person before the Annual General Meeting. If they’re a registered charity, they’ll need to share it with the charity regulator.
- Hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Look after buildings, insurance and property
- Look after records of ownership of property and equipment.
- Have the right insurance for people, buildings, and equipment.
- Make sure buildings and equipment are working well.
Manage risks
- Maintain a risk register and put the right risk mitigations in place.
Help the charity to operate well, today and in the future
- Work with Lead Volunteers to meet their charity aims.
- Champion Our Volunteering Culture, and make sure volunteers are aware of it, reflect on it, commit to it, and apply it in their teams.
In carrying out the above, Trustees also:
- Make sure effective administration is in place to support the work of the Trustee Board.
- Make sure records of Trustee Board meetings are kept, and complete any actions that are agreed.
- Run open selection processes for appointing Trustees.
- Co-opt Trustees onto the Board if they need people with particular skills or knowledge.
- Get expert advice, if needed. This could be on health and safety, managing money, buildings, equipment, or employment.
- Network with other Scouts Trustees to share knowledge and experience.
Chair
- Lead the Trustee Board.
- Plan when Trustee Board meetings should take place, and decide what to talk about at each meeting.
- Lead Trustee Board meetings and the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
- Liaise with Lead Volunteers.
- Lead recruitment for new Trustees.
- Support other Trustees by organising inductions, making reasonable adjustments (where needed), checking in to see how they’re getting on, and carrying out annual reviews.
Treasurer
- Look after finances, such as making sure Groups/Districts/Counties are collecting all membership fees and making all payments.
- Share details about income and spend with other Trustees.
- Make sure Gift Aid is being claimed.
- Make sure proper accounts are kept and draw up policies on finance and investment.
All Trustees must complete:
- The learning everyone needs
- Being a Scouts Trustee
You can find out more about our learning content on the learning page.
Permissions in our digital system
All volunteers will have access to our new digital system and will be expected to sign in to manage their own membership and complete learning. Some volunteers will have further permissions to the system features depending on which team(s) they’re in, and what their role is in that team.
All members will be able to nominate for awards, apply for grants, use Data explorer, and search for members who are visible for them.
Members of Trustee Boards will also be able to update Units, and create custom Data explorer dashboards, and download these. The Chair will also be able to support Grant applications, view suspensions, add and end roles, support with criminal record checks, create sub-teams and manage volunteer enquiries.
Helpful Resources
We've compiled some of the most useful resources for Team Members and Team Leaders to look through, to help them understand their responsibilities. These links don't cover everything though, and Team Leaders should make sure that all the tasks on the Team Description are being carried out.
Information for volunteers who lead teams
There are some responsibilities that sit with Team Leaders, such as welcoming volunteers to the team, and making sure that everyone knows what tasks they're working on, and has the support they need.
Read our guidance for Lead Volunteers and Team Leaders