b. Sole Trustee

If a council is the sole trustee, should form a committee, with the Council itself serving as the trustee. The individual committee members are not charity trustees. The committee will be governed in accordance with charity law and decisions made in the best interests of the charity, not the council.  The charities governing document will set out if non-councillors can be members of the committee. If not, all members of the committee must be councillors.  

Under s.2 of the Charities Act 2011 a charity must be established solely for charitable purposes that benefit the public. It cannot be set up to advance the objectives of a non-charitable organisation, such as a council.  While councils and charities often share common interests in local issues, the charity must operate independently of the council.

All decisions concerning the administration and operation of the charity must be made exclusively to further its charitable purposes. This means that the Council needs to be careful to distinguish between when it is acting as a local authority and when it is acting as a charity trustee.   To maintain this difference, any discussions or decisions relating to the charity must take place in a meeting convened specifically for that purpose and not as part of a regular council meeting.