Fit and Proper Person declarations

Our Trustees subfolder (in our Charities & Non-Profit Group) contains a variety of documents designed to assist charity trustees to meet their various legal duties and obligations. We have recently added two new documents to assist charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (“CASCs”) to comply with their legal obligations when appointing new trustees and other managers.

These new documents are applicable to a wide range of individuals appointed by a charity/CASC. This is because “manager” includes any trustee, director, or any employee who has general control and management either over the running of the charity/ CASC or over the application of its assets (e.g. expenditure of its funds).

One of these new documents is the model form of trustee’s/manager’s declaration published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for use by any charity or CASC (whether or not the charity is registered with the Charity Commission). We recommend that you use this form whenever you appoint a new trustee or other manager, and that you use this form rather than any other form of trustee/manager declaration.

The other document is a guidance note about why trustees or other managers of charities or CASCs need to be “fit and proper persons”. The note explains what the expression “fit and proper” means, why a form of declaration should be used by every charity and CASC, and why we recommend use of the HMRC Model Form. A declaration should be completed by all new trustees and managers.

The guidance note also includes the full text of HMRC’s Helpsheet on the subject of “fit and proper persons” and use of the HMRC form.