This week (3rd to 7th November 2025) is Trustee Week and it’s a good opportunity to review all things related to your Trustees/Committee.
We know that trustee/committee recruitment is really tough and you don’t want to put any barriers in the way for those stepping up, but there are some legal requirements that you must be aware of. We’re going to refer to Trustees in this document but we know your committee are your trustees – there is no difference according to the PATA constitution.
EYFS
The new EYFS strengthens the safeguarding and safer recruitment requirements, and as this applies to volunteers, we think that it will also apply to your trustees. This means that you should have in place for committee members:
- An Enhanced DBS (either applied for through Ofsted, which we would recommend, or acceptable to Ofsted according to their requirements – see here.
- A reference (EYFS section 3.20). Opinions vary on whether volunteers here only refers to volunteers who are regularly in your setting with the children. Given the responsibility that committee members have and the potential level of access to both child and staff information, we think that they should have at least one reference.
Charities Commission
This section isn’t new but we know that many settings may not have been aware of it.
- Age – trustees must be 18 or over unless you are a CIO in which case they can be 16.
- Disqualification: You must take steps to ensure that the trustee isn’t disqualified. Reasons can include
- being bankrupt or having an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA)
- having an unspent conviction for some offences, including dishonesty or deception offence
- being on the sex offenders’ register
- being disqualified directly by the Charity Commission
The DBS will cover some of these but not bankruptcy or IVA – you can obtain a waiver from the Charity Commission, more information about this can be found here.
You can ask trustees to sign a Disqualification Declaration form, we would strongly recommend this. See here.
You should also check the following registers:
- The Insolvency Register: see here
- The Disqualified Directors Register: see here
- The Register of removed trustees: see here
The full Charities Commission guidance is here
Register with the Charities Commission
Once you have completed all the checks above and are satisfied that the person is eligible to be a trustee, and they have been voted in at your AGM or co-opted by the other Trustees (see 6.6 in the PATA Constitution) you can register them with the Charities Commission. This should be done within 14 days of their appointment (i.e. the date of the AGM).
Register with Ofsted
Once they are registered with the Charities Commission they must then complete the EY2 and accompanying DBS check to register with Ofsted. We strongly recommend obtaining the DBS through the Ofsted process. You will only be able to use a previously issued DBS if it is actively on the Update Service or is under 3 months old from date of issue and is at the correct level. Admin issues with the DBS is the most common reason that we see for EY2 applications not being accepted or processed by Ofsted.
NB: Your settings Nominated Individual (NI) must inform Ofsted of the outing going trustees and the incoming trustees before Ofsted will accept an EY2 form from the new trustees.
Register your people with PATA
As a PATA member you can have up to 9 people listed on our system. These people will then receive update emails from us with important information about the sector. They can also access the Members Area of the website and book themselves on training. Most settings have some or all of their committee listed, along with their Manager and senior staff.
Committee Handover
Ideally you will have a comprehensive handover from the previous committee/trustees. We’ve prepared some information on the general role of the committee which you might find useful. These are in the Members Area of the website.
You should share job descriptions with your trustees (see the Members' Area Roles for Committees document) so that they understand their role and the interplay of this with the setting manager and deputy. This can really help everyone to understand what they should and shouldn’t be doing.
You may also find the 5 minutes guides from the Charity Commission helpful: see here.
Overall don't forget that we are here to help! You can get in touch with any questions on info@pataglos.org.uk or call our Support line on 01452 541244 between 9.30am and 3.30pm every week day.
