Trustee payment guide
Can charity trustees be paid?
Trustee roles are generally voluntary, but charities sometimes need to reimburse expenses or consider payments to trustees or connected persons. The useful first step is to classify the payment route before trustees discuss approval, because expenses, services, employment, trustee duties, loss of earnings, land, honorariums, and other benefits have different evidence and authority requirements.
Start by naming the payment route
- Separate reimbursement of trustee expenses from trustee payment or benefit; reasonable expenses are not treated as trustee payment, but still need a policy, evidence, approval, and accounts handling
- If the charity wants to buy goods or services from a trustee or connected person, check whether the statutory power can be used and whether the governing document contains any prohibition or conditional power
- If the arrangement is employment, trustee duties, loss of earnings, land, work already done, an honorarium, or another benefit, use the specific CC11 route instead of treating it as ordinary services
- Record the proposed recipient, relationship to trustees, payment value, payment period, who benefits, and whether any company or subsidiary is involved before discussion begins
Evidence trustees should expect before approving
- A governing-document check should show whether payments are allowed, prohibited, conditional, or silent, and whether Charity Commission authority may be needed before anything is paid
- The minutes should show why the arrangement is in the charity's best interests, what alternatives were considered, why the price or value is reasonable, and how risks such as public criticism or trustee influence were managed
- For goods or services, trustees should keep a separate written agreement before the charity receives the goods or services; meeting minutes alone are not enough
- The board should check the minority condition, identify all conflicted trustees and connected persons, remove conflicted trustees from discussion and voting, and confirm the meeting remains quorate
Connected persons, employment, and trustee duties
- A connected person can include family, business interests, employers, organisations, or other relationships depending on the payment route, so trustees should not rely on an informal conflict declaration alone
- Employment is not the same as buying services; employing a trustee, former trustee, or connected person can need a separate governing-document power or Charity Commission authority
- Paying a trustee for trustee duties is a higher-risk route, usually temporary and exceptional, and should be considered only when it clearly gives the charity a significant advantage over other options
- Loss-of-earnings compensation, land arrangements, small payments, honorariums, and work already carried out each need the relevant CC11 route and should not be bundled into a vague reimbursement label
Records, accounts, and when to pause
- Keep source evidence, quotations or benchmarking, written agreements, conflict declarations, withdrawal records, quorum notes, authority or consent, payment records, and accounts disclosure evidence together
- Pause before payment if the governing document prohibits payment, the board cannot reach an unconflicted quorum, most trustees would be paid or connected to paid people, the payment is retrospective, or the arrangement looks like employment
- Pause if the public explanation would be difficult: founder or chair payments, long-running regular payments, family relationships, trading subsidiary roles, or unclear market pricing can all increase reputational and governance risk
- Use the linked checker for preparation only; professional legal, accounting, audit, tax, employment, procurement, or governance advice may be needed before approval or accounts submission
Official sources
Official source
Charities paying a trustee or a connected person: understand the rules (CC11)
Charity Commission guidance series for trustee payments and connected-person payments in England and Wales.
Official source
Paying a trustee or connected person for goods or services
CC11 route covering statutory power, goods and services, connected persons, written agreements, minority condition, conflicts, records, and accounts disclosure.
Official source
Employing a trustee or connected person
CC11 employment route for trustees, former trustees, and connected persons.
Official source
Paying a trustee for carrying out trustee duties
CC11 route for exceptional temporary payment for trustee duties and Charity Commission authority questions.
Official source
Compensating a trustee for loss of earnings
CC11 route for loss-of-earnings compensation where trustee work affects paid employment or self-employment.
Official source
Paying trustees: other types of trustee payments
CC11 route for land transactions, work already carried out, small payments, honorariums, records, and disclosure.
Official source
Trustee expenses: what charities can pay
Charity Commission guidance on reasonable trustee expenses, evidence, expense policies, direct payment, advance payment, and accounts disclosure.
Official source
Identifying and managing conflicts of interest in a charity (CC29)
Charity Commission guidance on financial conflicts, loyalty conflicts, connected persons, quorum, withdrawal, records, serious conflicts, and Commission involvement.
Related tools
Interactive tool
Charity trustee payment and benefit checker
Check whether a proposed trustee payment, connected-person payment, trustee benefit, goods or services arrangement, employment decision, trustee-duty payment, loss-of-earnings compensation, or expense route has the evidence trustees need before approval. The checker follows Charity Commission CC11 themes without giving legal, accounting, audit, tax, employment, procurement, investment, or governance advice.
Interactive tool
Charity conflicts of interest checker
Check whether a trustee conflict of interest has been identified, declared, managed, and recorded before a board decision, related-party payment, trustee benefit, shared-trustee transaction, merger, user-trustee decision, property deal, or serious governance issue. The checker follows Charity Commission CC29 themes without giving legal, governance, procurement, audit, tax, investment, employment, or data-protection advice.
Interactive tool
Charity internal financial controls checker
Check whether a charity's internal financial controls have the evidence trustees need before year-end accounts, fraud review, bank mandate changes, online banking setup, fundraising events, grant payments, supplier payments, or serious incident follow-up. The checker follows Charity Commission CC8 themes without giving accounting, audit, tax, legal, investment, fraud investigation, or governance advice.
Interactive tool
Charity serious incident reporting checker
Check whether an actual or alleged incident has strong Charity Commission serious-incident reporting signals and whether the trustee body has the evidence needed before using the official report form. The checker follows GOV.UK serious incident guidance without giving legal, safeguarding, criminal, insurance, audit, data-protection, or governance advice.
Interactive tool
Charity risk register checker
Check whether a charity risk register has the evidence trustees need before annual reporting, insurance renewal, cyber review, service planning, reserves review, funding decisions, or major supplier changes. The checker follows Charity Commission CC26 themes without giving legal, insurance, audit, safeguarding, investment, or governance advice.
Common questions
FAQ
Can charity trustees be paid?
Sometimes, but the answer depends on the route. A charity may be able to reimburse reasonable expenses, use a statutory power for goods or services, employ a trustee or connected person only where the correct power or Charity Commission authority exists, or apply a specific CC11 route for trustee duties, loss of earnings, land, honorariums, or other payments.
FAQ
Can charity trustees claim expenses?
Yes. Charity Commission guidance treats reasonable trustee expenses as different from trustee payments or benefits. The charity should still use an expense policy, require evidence such as receipts where practical, make sure a trustee does not approve their own claim, and disclose expenses in accounts where required.
FAQ
Can a charity pay a trustee for services?
A charity may be able to pay a trustee or connected person for goods or services if the statutory power or a valid governing-document power can be used. Trustees need evidence on best interests, reasonable price, written agreement, minority condition, conflict management, records, and accounts disclosure before relying on that route.
FAQ
Can a charity employ a trustee or connected person?
Employment is a separate route from goods or services. The board must check the governing document, identify whether the person is a trustee, former trustee, or connected person, manage conflicts, and get Charity Commission authority where the governing document does not provide a suitable power or contains a prohibition.
FAQ
When does Charity Commission authority matter?
Charity Commission authority may be needed when the governing document does not clearly permit the payment, contains a prohibition, requires Commission consent, the charity cannot manage the conflict itself, or the route is one where CC11 says authority is required. Trustees should pause before making the payment if authority is uncertain.
FAQ
Do trustee payments need to be disclosed in accounts?
Often yes. CC11 guidance explains that trustee or connected-person payments may have to be named and described in charity accounts, and trustee expenses also have accounts disclosure rules. Check whether the charity prepares accrual or receipts-and-payments accounts and get professional review where needed.
Decision notes
- This guide is not legal, accounting, audit, tax, employment, procurement, investment, or governance advice. Use current Charity Commission guidance and professional advice where needed.
- Do not use this page to approve a real trustee payment. It is a source-led preparation checklist for deciding what official guidance, evidence, and authority route to review.
- The linked checker stores no payment details and should not receive names, bank details, salary details, conflict declarations, or sensitive trustee information.
- Approved expenses, trustee payments, connected-person payments, and benefits can have public accounts disclosure consequences; use the charity's own accounts route and professional review where needed.