Board of Trustees

The Trustees for Teen Challenge London are:

Pastor Steve Derbyshire, City Gates Church, Ilford
Mrs Christine Caton, Caton Fry & Partners Chartered Accountants
Superintendent Leroy Logan, Metropolitan Police
Pastor Pete Vickers, retired

Trustees and their Responsibilities

Charity Trustees are the people who serve on the governing body of a charity. They may be known as Trustees, Directors, Board Members, Governors or Committee Members. The principles and main duties are the same in all cases.

(1) Trustees have and must accept ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of a charity, and ensuring that it is solvent, well-run, and delivering the charitable outcomes for which it has been set up.

Compliance – Trustees must:

(2) ensure that the charity complies with charity law, and with the requirements of the Charity Commission as regulator; in particular ensure that the charity prepares reports on what it has achieved and annual returns and accounts as required by law.
(3) ensure that the charity does not breach any of the requirements or rules set out in its governing document and that it remains true to the charitable purpose and objects set out there.
(4) comply with the requirements of other legislation and other regulators (if any) which govern the activities of the charity.
(5) act with integrity, and avoid any personal conflicts of interest or misuse of charity funds or assets.

Duty of prudence – Trustees must:

(6) ensure that the charity is and will remain solvent.
(7) use charitable funds and assets reasonably, and only in furtherance of the charity’s objects.
(8) avoid undertaking activities that might place the charity’s endowment, funds, assets or reputation at undue risk.
(9) take special care when investing the funds of the charity, or borrowing funds for the charity to use.


Duty of care – Trustees must:

(10) use reasonable care and skill in their work as Trustees, using their personal skills and experience as needed to ensure that the charity is well-run and efficient.
(11) consider getting external professional advice on all matters where there may be material risk to the charity, or where the Trustees may be in breach of their duties.
Some charity trustees, and people thinking about becoming trustees, are nowadays influenced by the thought that they might be "personally liable" if things go wrong with the charity. What they fear is that, if they make a mistake in the running of the charity or if it gets into debt, they might have to make good any loss or shortfall out of their own private resources. While for a few people this can be a real worry that leads them to resign their trusteeship, it is in fact extremely rare for a trustee to be made "personally liable" in this way.