Trustee induction checklist

The rule: CC30, the Code and the annual report

Trustee induction rests on Charity Commission guidance rather than statute. Under the heading “Welcome, include and develop new trustees”, Finding and appointing new trustees (CC30) says: “As trustees, you are responsible together for making sure that everyone on your trustee board: is included and able to make their contribution; has the information and support they need to help run your charity effectively.” It names the means: “You can do this by having a good induction process for new trustees.” That process, CC30 says, helps new trustees to “understand their legal responsibilities”, “find out how your charity works and any opportunities and challenges it has” and “contribute to its effective running as quickly as possible”, and “A positive start can also help your charity to keep trustees for their full term.”

Three other sources add to it. First, the governing document: CC30 tells boards to “Check if your governing document says that you must give specific information to new trustees.” Second, the Charity Governance Code, refreshed in 2025 and voluntary, whose Foundation principle expects that “The charity has an agreed process for inducting new trustees which includes: a focus on charitable objects; legal duties of charities and trustees; potential liabilities associated with their role; specific information relevant to the charity and its particular circumstances”, and lists “An induction checklist” and “Induction training” among its suggested evidence. Third, the accounting framework: module 1 of the Charities SORP 2026, paragraph 1.53, says for charities in its tiers 2 and 3 (accruals accounts and gross income over £500,000) that “The report must explain the policies and procedures for the induction and ongoing training of trustees.”

The Commission also writes to every new trustee directly. CC30 says “New trustees will receive a welcome pack from the Commission”, and the Charity trustee welcome pack is sent “to each new trustee at the email address they have given us”. It goes to the email address the Commission holds for the trustee, which is one more reason to update the charity's register entry promptly after the appointment. The pack is a primer, not an induction: it tells the new trustee what to ask the charity for.

The trustee induction checklist, stage by stage

The appointment itself (the eligibility declaration, the register checks and the minute) is covered in our trustee recruitment guide. Induction starts the day after. Most boards find it easiest to work in three stages.

Before the first meeting. CC30 says “You should provide the following to a new trustee”:

• “your charity's governing document”
• “its latest annual report and accounts”
• “its latest management accounts and budgets”
• “minutes of recent trustee meetings”
• “your charity's key policies. For example: on safeguarding, expenses, conflicts of interest, social media and internal financial controls”
• “documents about your charity's plans, priorities and values”
• “Commission guidance about the key responsibilities of a charity trustee” and the Commission's “five-minute guides on what all trustees need to know”
• anything else “that will help the trustee to understand your charity and their role”

Add the practical items: a conflict of interest declaration for the register of interests, the board's code of conduct if it has one, the dates of the year's meetings and, where the new trustee will be a signatory on the charity's account, the change to the bank mandate that CC30 lists among the actions after an appointment. CC30 also says “Where needed, plan when you will explain the role and purpose of each document”, which is the difference between an induction and a reading list.

In the first three months. CC30 suggests the board “Introduce new trustees to key people at your charity. For example, the other trustees and key employees”, and over time arranges “visits to see your charity's services and projects”, “meetings with your charity's beneficiaries” and “meeting your charity's funders, stakeholders and advisers”. NCVO's Recruiting and inducting trustees adds “invitations to events, meetings and presentations” and “buddying or coaching”. CC30's simplest instruction is easy to overlook: “Ask the individual what would help them to participate fully.”

Through the first year. “At the outset, you can discuss with each new trustee: what information and learning they need to become an effective trustee; how you can help them to get this in their first year at your charity.” CC30 then suggests “regular discussions with the new trustee about: how they are adapting to their new role; what they need to support their effective contribution”, which “might be with your charity's chair, or another trustee or mentor”. A short conversation at three months and again at the end of the year, noted, is enough for most boards.

Induction also tests the board, not only the newcomer. Under “Including new trustees”, CC30 says “You can review how you operate as a board, and if you need to change anything”: “the length and format of your meetings”, “if discussions and papers are in straightforward language”, “sharing board papers in good time so that new trustees have enough time to prepare” and “if all trustees are able to contribute”. A board that has just recruited for lived experience, a younger perspective or someone who has never sat on a board will lose that experience quickly if every paper assumes ten years of committee work. The skills audit that shaped the recruitment is the natural starting point for the first-year learning plan: it shows which gaps the new trustee was recruited to fill, and where they will want support.

What the induction has to explain

Handing over the documents is the easy part. The Code's list of what an induction covers is a useful test of whether the new trustee has understood them.

1. The charity's purposes. The welcome pack tells new trustees to check they know “what your charity's purposes are”, “how your charity achieves its purposes” and “who your charity's beneficiaries are (who it helps)”. Walk through the objects clause and one or two current activities that show it in practice.
2. The legal duties. The six duties in the Commission's The essential trustee (CC3), summarised in our guide to charity trustee responsibilities. The Code's Foundation principle expects that “All trustees have access to Charity Commission Guidance, in particular The Essential Trustee (CC3)”.
3. How decisions are made. The governing document's rules on meetings, quorum and voting, what the board has delegated to staff or committees, and how conflicts of interest are declared and managed.
4. The money. The welcome pack is blunt: “Pay particular attention to your charity's finances. This is a responsibility of all trustees, not just the treasurer.” A short session with the treasurer on the budget, the reserves and the financial controls does more than the accounts alone.
5. Safeguarding. The Commission's guidance Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees says “Every trustee should have clear oversight of how safeguarding and protecting people from harm are managed within their charity”. Explain the policy, the lead trustee, how concerns reach the board and how serious incidents are reported to the Commission.
6. The potential liabilities. CC3 says it is “extremely rare, but not impossible, for charity trustees to be held personally liable”, and how far that matters depends on whether the charity is incorporated. Tell the new trustee which legal form the charity has, whether it holds trustee indemnity insurance and what the governing document says about indemnity.
7. Expectations. The Code expects that “Expectations of trustees (including time commitment, conduct and areas for which they should take personal responsibility) are made clear by the charity”: the role description, the code of conduct, confidentiality, expenses and how trustees handle the personal data they see in board papers.
8. Whose interests a trustee serves. Trustees elected by members, appointed by another body or recruited as service users bring a valuable perspective, but CC3 is clear that “all trustees, regardless of how they are appointed, must act solely in the interests of the charity; it's not their role to act on behalf of any particular group.” The Code adds that “member-elected trustees receive induction support to understand the difference between representing views and acting in the charity's best interest”.

Charity trustee training after the induction

No law requires a charity trustee to complete a course before or after appointment. The duty is to act with reasonable care and skill, and CC3 says the Commission “doesn't expect every trustee to be a legal expert”: trustees “should take reasonable steps to find out about legal and regulatory requirements and keep up to date, for example by getting mailings from the Commission and other sources, reading relevant guidance and attending appropriate training”. CC30 frames it as a board responsibility: “Plan to train, support and develop all your trustees, as you would with employees”, through “individual training courses”, “sessions for all trustees” and “briefings or workshops as part of trustee meetings”.

The Code expects the same. Its Board effectiveness principle is working when “The board is committed to its development, including trustee induction, individual learning and whole board learning”; its practice includes “Trustees are offered learning and development opportunities”; and its suggested evidence includes “Evidence of trustee commitment to learning and development” and “A budget for board development activities”. The Ethics and culture principle adds “Trustee training on topics such as safeguarding and ethics”, and the Commission's safeguarding guidance lists “setting training plans for trustees, staff and volunteers on safeguarding and protecting people from harm” among the checks trustees can use.

Most trustees are volunteers, and good charity trustee training does not have to cost much. Free online training and other options include:

• the Commission's 5-minute guides for charity trustees, on delivering purpose, conflicts of interest, reporting, safeguarding, decision making and finances, with a trustee quiz
• ICAEW's trustee training modules, six online modules on legal and financial responsibilities, board dynamics, impact, risk and relationships, which ICAEW says are “free to access” once you create an account
• resources from local Councils for Voluntary Service, which CC30 signposts through NAVCA, and from Third Sector Support Wales for charities in Wales

Paid options include the NSPCC's charity trustee safeguarding training, an eLearning course for trustees of charities whose work brings them into contact with children. Choose by the gap, not the catalogue: the skills audit tells the board where training will help most.

Training matters more for some trustees than others. CC3 quotes the Trustee Act 2000 duty to “exercise such care and skill as is reasonable in the circumstances”, and explains that what is reasonable “will depend on any special knowledge or experience that the trustee has or claims to have”. A trustee recruited for their finance or safeguarding expertise is expected to bring it, and to keep it current.

The induction and training record to keep

If the board is asked how it inducts and trains its trustees, by an auditor, a funder, the Commission or its own annual report, the answer should come from a file rather than from memory. For each trustee, keep:

• the dated induction checklist, showing what was sent or handed over and when, and who explained what
• the signed conflict of interest declaration and, if the board has one, the signed code of conduct
• notes of the three-month and first-year conversations, and any learning needs agreed
• a training log: the date, the subject, the provider and any certificate, including safeguarding training where the charity's policy requires it
• a note of meetings attended, which the Code lists as “Evidence of meeting attendance and preparation”

At board level, keep the induction policy or process itself, the induction pack as it stood on each date (so that the board can show what a trustee appointed two years ago was actually given), and a minute each year noting the training trustees have done. For tier 2 and tier 3 charities, that minute becomes the paragraph the SORP requires in the structure, governance and management section of the trustees' annual report.

These records are personal data about the trustees, so they belong in the charity's retention schedule. No statute sets a period for an induction file; many boards keep it for the trustee's term and a set number of years after it, and record the reason. Our guide to charity record keeping covers the periods that do have a legal basis.

The induction that happened in the group chat

On paper, induction is a pack and a meeting. In practice, a new trustee's first week usually looks different. The chair adds them to the trustees' WhatsApp group with a welcome message. The governing document and last year's accounts arrive as attachments in the same thread. The safeguarding policy is promised “after the AGM”. The new trustee's questions (what the reserves are for, why the chief executive's report was late, whether the lease is a problem) go to the chair by direct message, and the answers come back the same way, on a Sunday evening.

That is the induction, and it is a record. It shows what the new trustee was given and when, what they were told about the charity's risks, and which questions they raised. If the board later has to show that a trustee was properly informed, because a decision is challenged, a safeguarding concern is reviewed or a funder asks how the board inducts its members, the evidence sits on two or three personal phones. The charity does not hold it, cannot search it, and loses it when the chair stands down.

None of this argues against a warm welcome or quick answers. It argues for knowing where the induction actually happens, and for making sure the dated checklist, the declarations and the answers to substantive questions reach the charity's own records rather than staying in a thread.

A question for the next board meeting: for the trustee we appointed most recently, could we show what they were given, on what date, and what training they have done since, without asking anyone to scroll back through their phone?

Questions people ask

What training is required to become a charity trustee?

No training is legally required to become a charity trustee in England and Wales: the legal tests are eligibility and age, not qualifications. Once appointed, trustees must act with reasonable care and skill, and the Charity Commission's guidance CC30 tells boards to “Plan to train, support and develop all your trustees, as you would with employees”.

Where can I find free training for charity trustees?

Free charity trustee training includes the Charity Commission's 5-minute guides and trustee quiz, its welcome pack for new trustees, and ICAEW's six online trustee training modules, which ICAEW says are free to access with an account. CC30 also points to resources from local Councils for Voluntary Service, and NAVCA can help find the nearest one.

What should be in a trustee induction pack?

A trustee induction pack should contain the governing document, the latest annual report and accounts, the latest management accounts and budgets, minutes of recent trustee meetings, key policies, the charity's plans and the Commission's guidance for trustees, which is the list in the Charity Commission's CC30. Add the role description, the code of conduct, the conflict of interest declaration and the year's meeting dates.

Does a charity have to report on trustee induction and training?

Yes, if it prepares accruals accounts and has gross income over £500,000: the Charities SORP 2026, paragraph 1.53, says “The report must explain the policies and procedures for the induction and ongoing training of trustees.” Paragraph 1.13 encourages smaller tier 1 charities to include the extra information where the trustees think it particularly relevant to readers of their accounts.

Official guidance and your next step

The primary guidance is the Charity Commission's Finding and appointing new trustees (CC30), especially its section on welcoming, including and developing new trustees, with The essential trustee (CC3) and the Charity trustee welcome pack for the new trustee to read. The Charity Governance Code sets out the good practice, and the Charities SORP 2026 the reporting requirement. Quotations are from those documents as published on 3 October 2026.

This guide is a summary for charities in England and Wales, not legal advice. Scottish charities should look to OSCR and Northern Ireland charities to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and a governing document with its own induction rules takes precedence over anything here.

Then do one thing: write down what your most recent trustee was given in their first month, and turn it into a dated checklist the next new trustee signs.