Charity trustee duties and CCNI enforcement in Northern Ireland

If you serve as a charity trustee in Northern Ireland, you have duties under the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. The term "charity trustee" covers anyone who manages or controls a Northern Ireland charity - board members, directors of a charitable company, and committee members of an unincorporated charity are all charity trustees for the purposes of the Act.

CCNI recommends at least 3 trustees, so that a dispute can always be resolved by a deciding vote, though this is a recommendation rather than a strict statutory minimum.

Your general duties in practice

Duty to act in the charity's interests

You must put the charity's interests ahead of your own or those of any other person or organisation. In practice this means declaring a conflict of interest before decisions are taken, withdrawing from discussions and votes where you have a personal interest, and ensuring related-party transactions are properly authorised and at arm's length.

Duty of care and diligence

You must act with the care and diligence a reasonably prudent person would apply. This means reading papers before meetings and asking questions where you do not understand something, attending meetings regularly, ensuring the charity has adequate financial controls, and seeking professional advice when a decision is beyond the board's expertise.

Duty to comply with the governing document

You must act within the powers your constitution, trust deed, or articles of association gives you. If you want to do something the governing document does not permit, change the governing document first through the proper process.

Duty to report accurately to CCNI

Supplying false or misleading information to CCNI is a criminal offence under section 25 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. This applies to your Annual Monitoring Return, your accounts, and any information you give CCNI during an inquiry.

CCNI's enforcement powers

CCNI has statutory inquiry and protective powers it can use where it has reasonable cause to believe there has been misconduct or mismanagement in a charity's administration.

What triggers a CCNI inquiry

CCNI may open an inquiry for reasons including persistent late or missing Annual Monitoring Returns, complaints from the public, beneficiaries, employees, or other trustees, adverse media coverage, referrals from other regulators such as HMRC or the police, or anomalies CCNI identifies from monitoring returns and accounts.

An inquiry does not mean wrongdoing has occurred. CCNI may open one simply to satisfy itself that a charity is operating properly.

The inquiry process

Information gathering

CCNI will write to the charity requesting specific information and documents under its general inquiry power (section 22). You must comply. Supplying false or misleading information is a criminal offence under section 25.

Assessment

CCNI reviews what you provide and may ask for more, interview trustees, or visit the charity's premises. At this stage CCNI may decide no further action is needed, or that the matter requires formal regulatory action.

Protective and enforcement action

Once a section 22 inquiry is open, CCNI can act for the protection of the charity under section 33. Depending on the severity of the concern, this can extend to suspending or removing trustees or other officers under section 34, or appointing an interim manager to control and manage the charity under section 35.

If CCNI contacts your charity

If you receive a letter or email from CCNI about an inquiry or requesting information, respond within the deadline CCNI sets - missing it escalates the matter. Give complete and honest information; concealing a problem makes the outcome significantly worse. Consider engaging a solicitor experienced in charity law for serious matters, and make sure the whole board is aware of the inquiry rather than handling it informally through one trustee.

When things go wrong

If you discover a financial irregularity, a safeguarding concern, or a governance failure at your charity, act immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled board meeting. Take steps to protect people and charity assets, such as suspending an employee under investigation or restricting bank account access. Report the matter to CCNI, and to the police, HMRC, or other relevant bodies depending on the issue. Record what happened, when you found out, what you did, and why - this record demonstrates that trustees acted properly.