A trustee code of conduct template is wording you can adapt, agree and sign. Copy the clauses below, then change them so they fit your charity. The duties, and what a code cannot do, are in the trustee code of conduct guide.
What you copy, and what you change
CC3 sets the duties. The Charity Governance Code (2025) lists a trustee code of conduct as suggested evidence, and it says: "Compliance with the Code is not a regulatory requirement." NCVO (the National Council for Voluntary Organisations) says you should write your own code so that it reflects your values. This text is a start, not a form the Charity Commission publishes.
Trustee Meetings is a governance tool, not a law firm. This is information, not legal advice.
Read every clause against your governing document before anyone signs. CC3 says the trustees, together, must see that the charity complies with that document. If a clause here conflicts with it, delete the clause. Do not add a power to remove a trustee unless the document already gives you that power. The guide explains why.
Trustee code of conduct template
[Charity name]
[Charity number]
Trustee code of conduct
Agreed by the board on [date]
Next review [date]
I am a trustee of this charity. I agree to the following.
1. I will read the governing document and follow it, and I will comply with charity law and the other laws that apply to this charity.
2. I will help make sure the charity carries out the purposes it was set up for, and no other purpose. If a proposal does not fit those purposes, I will say so.
3. I will act in the charity's best interests. I will take part in balanced and informed decisions, and I will weigh the long-term effects as well as the short-term ones.
4. I will accept a decision the board has properly made, including where I disagreed. I may ask for that disagreement to be written into the minutes. I will not campaign against the decision afterwards.
5. I will declare any conflict between my duty to the charity and a personal interest, or a loyalty to another person or organisation. I will follow the charity's conflicts of interest policy. I will accept a benefit from the charity only if it is properly authorised and clearly in the charity's interests. That includes a benefit to someone financially connected to me.
6. I will use reasonable care and skill, including my own experience, and I will say when the board needs advice.
7. I will give enough time, thought and energy to the role. I will prepare for meetings, attend them, and take an active part. If I cannot attend, I will send apologies before the meeting.
8. I will keep board papers within the board, unless the board agrees to share them or the law requires them to be shared. I understand that the trustees' annual report and the charity's public register entry are there to be read.
9. I will treat other trustees, staff, volunteers and people who use the charity with respect, in the meeting and outside it.
10. I will support a new trustee through induction, and I will take part in learning the board asks of me. If the board is missing a skill, I will help it say so, and I will not pretend a willingness to learn is the same as already having the skill.
11. If I cannot keep to this code, I will tell the chair. I understand that this code does not, on its own, give the board a power to remove me. I can be removed only in the ways my charity's governing document or the law allows, and a breach of this code may be taken into account if one of those ways is used.
Signed:
Name:
Date:
Do not delete the last two sentences of clause 11. They stop the code being read as a removal power.
Notes on each clause
1. The document and the law. Why it is here: CC3 says the trustees, together, must see that the charity follows its governing document, and must comply with charity law and the other laws that apply. The code repeats that duty in the first person. It does not list every statute. Edit: if your document says "management committee" rather than "trustee", use its word in the opening line.
2. Purposes. Why it is here: CC3 says you "must make sure that the charity is carrying out the purposes for which it is set up, and no other purpose". It also says: "Spending charity funds on the wrong purposes is a very serious matter". Edit: point to the objects clause. Do not paste a long objects clause into the code.
3. Best interests. Why it is here: CC3 says you must "do what you and your co-trustees (and no one else) decide will best enable the charity to carry out its purposes", and that with your co-trustees you must "make balanced and adequately informed decisions, thinking about the long term as well as the short term". Edit: leave this clause alone. CC3 says all trustees, "regardless of how they are appointed, must act solely in the interests of the charity", and not on behalf of any particular group.
4. A decision you disagreed with. Why it is here: CC3 says trustees must act collectively, that a decision does not usually need every trustee to agree, and that once a decision is made you must comply with it, including where you disagreed. You can ask for the disagreement to be minuted. Edit: do not add "I will support the chair at all times". That contradicts the duty to challenge a proposal before the vote.
5. Conflicts and benefits. Why it is here: CC3 says you must avoid a conflict with a personal interest or a loyalty, and that you must not receive a benefit unless it is properly authorised and clearly in the charity's interests, including a benefit to someone financially connected to you. The steps for handling a conflict live in your conflict of interest policy. Edit: name the policy as your charity titles it. If you have no policy yet, agree one before you ask people to sign a promise to follow it.
6. Care, skill, and advice. Why it is here: CC3 says you "must use reasonable care and skill, making use of your skills and experience and taking appropriate advice when necessary". CC3 also says you should recognise when you need advice. Edit: do not add "I will not need outside advice". A small board that promises that will skip advice from a surveyor, which CC3 says most charities must take when selling charity land.
7. Time and attendance. Why it is here: CC3 says you "should give enough time, thought and energy to your role", and its example is preparing for, attending and taking an active part in meetings. The apologies sentence is this template's practical line, so a missed meeting is visible and not a mystery. Edit: you may add your usual pattern, such as six evenings a year plus reading. CC30 (the Commission's guidance on finding new trustees) says be specific about time, including time beyond the meeting. Do not turn one absence into a penalty.
8. Papers. Why it is here: the Code lists, as a behaviour, that trustees maintain confidentiality as appropriate. The clause also names the public report and the register. Edit: if the document gives members a right to certain papers, say so. Do not promise a secrecy the document does not allow.
9. Respect. Why it is here: the Code lists, as a leadership behaviour, that trustees are respectful and courteous. This clause is that behaviour, in words you can sign. It is not a statutory definition of respect. Edit: you may add one example from your own meetings. Keep it to one sentence.
10. Induction and skills. Why it is here: the Code's foundation behaviours include time for your own induction and for supporting new trustees. The skills sentence points at the trustee skills audit template. Edit: delete the skills sentence if you have no place to record a gap.
11. Telling the chair, and removal. Why it is here: the Code's prompt is that the chair addresses behaviour that falls short of what you have agreed. The last two sentences stop anyone claiming the code is itself a power of removal. CC3 says you must follow the governing document on resignation and removal. Edit: if your document names who may remove a trustee, you can add "as set out in clause [number]". Do not invent a vote.
Signature. Why it is here: NCVO says new board members sign when they join. Collect each signature at the meeting that adopts the code, and again when a new trustee joins.
How the board adopts it
Send the draft with the papers seven days before the meeting. In the meeting, read only the clauses someone wants to change. Then decide.
Minute it in one sentence: "The board agreed the trustee code of conduct dated [date]. The signed copy is kept with the board papers. The next review is [date]."
Give the signed code to every trustee. Put it in the welcome pack. Add "sign the code" to the induction checklist. CC30 says a role description can include the behaviours you expect. This code is that list.
Do this once, then let it run itself. Trustee Meetings is a simple board-meetings tool built for small UK charities. It keeps the signed code beside the minute that adopted it, with the rest of the board papers a new trustee needs. 30-day trial, then £15 a month or £180 a year. Card required at signup. Cancel any time in the trial. £120 a year if your charity's income is under £25,000. Every trustee included. Try it with your board
Mistakes when a template is signed unread
A clause that contradicts the document. We see a code that says the board may remove a trustee by a majority at any meeting, on top of a constitution that says only the members can do it. CC3 says you must follow the document. Strike the clause out before you sign.
No conflicts policy behind clause 5. The promise to follow a policy you have not adopted is an empty line. Agree the conflict of interest policy first, or in the same meeting, and name it in the clause.
Attendance written as a punishment. Clause 7 uses CC3's "should". If you add "three absences and you are removed", you have written a removal rule the code cannot enforce. Only mention absence and removal if the governing document already provides for it, and then cite that clause.
Staff and volunteers on the same signature page. The Code lists separate codes for staff and volunteers as suggested evidence. This signature is for trustees. Pay to a trustee is a conflict and a benefit under CC3, and it belongs in the conflicts policy.
Frequently asked questions
Should you adopt this wording unchanged? No. NCVO says a code of conduct works when the board writes it to reflect the charity's own values, and that new trustees sign it when they join. Use these clauses as the start. Add a line your governing document already requires, and delete a clause that contradicts that document. A code the board has not edited is a sample, not an agreement.
Where should the signed copy be kept? With the minute of the meeting that adopted it, and in the papers you give a new trustee. A code that exists only in one person's downloads folder will not be the document you can point to in a disagreement. The welcome pack is the sensible home, next to the governing document and the conflicts policy.
Can you add a line about social media? Yes, as the board's own standard. Keep it specific: you do not speak for the charity, online or in the room, unless the board has asked you to. That sentence is our steer, not a rule in CC3. Underneath it, CC3 says your decisions must be made only in the charity's interests, and you must avoid putting your duty in conflict with a personal interest.
What if a clause clashes with the governing document? Follow the document. CC3 says you must make sure the charity complies with its governing document, and that any change to the document has to follow the correct procedure. Delete the clashing clause before anyone signs. Signing this code is not that amendment procedure.
How often should the board read the code again? Our steer, not a Commission rule: once a year, on the same agenda as the register of interests, and again when a new trustee joins. Put the next review date on the bottom of the code before you sign it. A code with no date becomes wallpaper.
This template is for trustees of charities in England and Wales. CC3 is the Charity Commission's guidance for England and Wales. Scottish charities are regulated by OSCR, and charities in Northern Ireland by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Use their rules rather than assuming this page applies in full.
The duties behind each clause are explained in the trustee code of conduct guide. Pair the code with the charity conflict of interest policy, the trustee welcome pack and the new trustee induction checklist. Browse the full guides library.