Trustee Boards

One of the key requirements of the Charities Acts is that the union implements a trustee board. All charities have trustee boards. The trustees have the responsibility the ensure the union is well run.

The YUSU Executive Committee is the current trustee board of the union. It is comprised of the full-time and part-time officers of the union.

Many officers run for a position because they are interested in the work of that position, for example environmental issues. Not because they want to become a trustee of the union. Often they are faced with difficult decisions which they are held personally liable for. This is clearly not a good situation for our officers to be in.

Because our officers are democratically elected rather than appointed there is no guarantee that they have the skills or expertise to be able to act as a trustee. Also, as the officers are only in post for 12 months there is no opportunity for them to develop these skills over the course of being trustees. The membership of the trustee body changes every 12 months, meaning any knowledge that has been built up is lost every year.

Therefore the legally responsible body of YUSU has no guaranteed continuity, expertise, experience or knowledge of the other campuses. All of which are desperately needed to ensure the well being and longevity of the union

A New Trustee Board


To become compliant we would have to create a trustee board comprising of some students and some external trustees. Such trustees would be selected on the basis of their expertise which they could contribute to the union. Many unions choose trustees with legal, media or fundraising expertis The board would not enact the political policy of the Union, they are there to ensure the running of the organisation on a day-to-day basis.
Page Created: 27th Apr, 2008
Last Updated: 10:18pm on 27th Apr, 2008 by Matt Burton