e. Council as trustee of a charity

Councils may be either custodian trustee, or sole trustee of a local charitable facility, such as a village hall, playing field or recreation ground.

Custodian trustee

The role of custodian trustee is very limited, the legal title to property is vested in the council and it should have custody of all documents relating to the property. The charity property should be listed in the council’s assets register, but with nil value.  

The custodian trustee has no power to manage the property or any role in the administration of the charity. Its duty is to perform all lawful acts necessary to enable the managing trustees to administer the charity efficiently. The custodian trustee should not act if the matter is a breach of trust or involves liability for the custodian trustee.

Sole trustee

A charitable body must be established for a charitable purpose, and for the public benefit. Decisions about the administration and operation of the charity must be taken solely with a view to furthering its charitable purposes, and for no other purpose. Whilst local councils and charities often have close interests in local matters, the charity needs to be independent of the council.

Where the council is sole trustee, it should set up a committee. When meeting as sole trustee, the legal requirements for meetings of parish councils do not apply. For example, public notice does not need be given (other than the AGM, the public are not normally invited to a meeting of a charity). 

Individual councillors are not trustees and have no individual responsibilities or liabilities. 


N.B. NALC have issued an advice note on their website - Basic charity law. [To access the NALC website you will need to set up an individual account (SALC members only).  Video guidance on how to do this is available here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zapNDmP8jjY]