CIO Registers and Records 
Use this section if your charity is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) and you need to set up or maintain the registers it is required to keep. A CIO does not have Companies House obligations, but the CIO regulations require it to keep a register of its charity trustees and a register of its members. The Charity Commission can ask to see them.
What documents are in this section?
The Register of Trustees for a CIO and the Register of Members for a CIO are templates for the two registers a CIO must maintain. In a foundation CIO the trustees are the only members, so the two registers will contain the same people; in an association CIO the register of members will be wider.
The List of Current Trustees for a CIO and the List of Current Members for a CIO are simpler working lists for day-to-day use, for example when the charity needs to circulate a notice or confirm who is entitled to vote. The Register of Trustees' Interests for Charitable Incorporated Organisation is not a statutory register but records the interests trustees have declared, which supports the charity's conflict of interest policy.
The documents for admitting and removing members are in the CIO Members section. Conflict of interest policies and declarations are in the Conflicts of Interest and Trustee Conduct section.
CIO Registers and Records is part of Charity. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Charity for 1 year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, keep one: the Commission's model CIO constitutions require a register of trustees, and your constitution almost certainly does, alongside the register of members every CIO must maintain. There is no Companies House layer, so these internal registers plus the Commission's public record are the whole picture. Keep the register current with appointment and retirement dates. The Register of Trustees for a CIO template here provides the structure.
Because outsiders keep asking for one. Banks, funders and landlords want a simple dated list of who the current trustees are, not your full historical register. A one-page list signed or minuted as accurate answers those requests quickly and consistently, while the register remains the authoritative record with its history. Keep both aligned, update each when trustees change. Both templates are in this section.
Yes. Every CIO must keep a register of its members, whatever the model, and in a foundation CIO that register simply lists the trustees in their member capacity. It matters because members' decisions, amending the constitution for example, are only demonstrably valid if you can show who the members were at the time. The register and current members list templates here keep both records straight with minimal effort.