Your new trustee said yes last Tuesday. Since then they have received either nothing at all, or forty forwarded emails with subject lines like "FW: FW: accounts (final) v3". Neither is a welcome.
A welcome pack — sometimes called a trustee induction pack — fixes this in an afternoon. It is one folder, paper or digital, containing everything a new trustee needs to walk into their first meeting knowing what your charity does, how it is run, and what the role asks of them.
The short version: the Charity Commission's own list says a new trustee should get the governing document, the latest annual report and accounts, the management accounts and budget, recent minutes, your key policies, and your plans and priorities. This guide turns that list into a pack, item by item, with a copyable contents table. The three-month settling-in process around it is a separate job, covered in our new trustee induction checklist — the pack is step one, and the easy half.
The welcome pack the Commission already sends (and why it isn't enough)
Here is the confusion to clear up first. The Charity Commission publishes its own Charity trustee welcome pack, last updated in October 2024, and it states: "We send the welcome pack to each new trustee at the email address they have given us."
So your new trustee will get an official welcome. It is a good general guide — trustee duties, getting to know your charity, what to expect, what gets filed with the Commission. Point them to it.
But it is generic by design. It cannot contain your governing document, your accounts, your minutes or your safeguarding policy. The pack that matters is the one only your charity can assemble — and that is the one this guide builds.
Is a welcome pack legally required?
No. Be precise here, because the Commission is. In CC3, The Essential Trustee, its core guidance on trustee duties, "must" means "a legal or regulatory requirement or duty that trustees must comply with", while "should" means "good practice that the Commission expects trustees to follow and apply to their charity".
The welcome pack sits on the "should" side. CC30, the Commission's guidance on finding and appointing trustees (updated May 2025), says "You should provide the following to a new trustee" — then lists the documents we cover below.
Three things around the appointment are genuine "musts", though: the disqualification declaration, the register update, and — for charitable companies — Companies House. They get their own section further down.
What to include: the Commission's own list, item by item
CC30 does the hard thinking for you. Here is its list, with one plain reason for each item.
1. Your governing document. The constitution, trust deed or articles — the rulebook for your charity. CC3 says trustees "must make sure that the charity complies with the governing document", and that every trustee should "have an up to date copy" and refer to it regularly. Put it first in the pack. It answers the questions new trustees are shy about asking, including how many of you must be present to decide anything.
2. The latest annual report and accounts. This is the fastest honest picture of what the charity did and what it cost. Treasurer-minded readers can go deeper with our guide to SORP 2026 for trustees.
3. The latest management accounts and budget. The annual accounts are history; the budget is the year the new trustee is actually joining.
4. Minutes of recent trustee meetings. Two or three sets is plenty. Nothing conveys "this is how our board actually works" faster — see what charity minutes should include. If you circulate a full board pack before each meeting, include the most recent one too.
5. Key policies. CC30 names its own examples: "on safeguarding, expenses, conflicts of interest, social media and internal financial controls". Safeguarding and conflicts are the two a new trustee will meet earliest — pair the conflicts policy with your register of interests and a blank declaration form.
6. Documents about your plans, priorities and values. A strategy paper if you have one; a one-page "what we are trying to do this year" if you do not. The one-pager is often more use.
7. The Commission's guidance on trustee responsibilities. CC30 points to its guidance on "the key responsibilities of a charity trustee" and the "five-minute guides on what all trustees need to know". Link to CC3 and the 5-minute guides rather than printing them — they change; your pack shouldn't have to.
8. Anything else that helps. CC30's catch-all: "any other documents that will help the trustee to understand your charity and their role." Good candidates, drawn from Historic England's board onboarding guidance: a trustee role description, a who's-who of trustees and staff with contact details, this year's meeting dates, and a code of conduct. The Charity Governance Code is worth adding too — sector advisers Sayer Vincent call it "good practice to include it, along with… 'The Essential Trustee', in your trustee induction packs".
The welcome pack contents template (copy this)
| In the pack | Why it's there |
|---|---|
| Governing document | The rulebook; trustees must comply with it |
| Trustee role description | What the job actually is |
| Latest annual report and accounts | What we did, what it cost |
| Management accounts and current budget | The year they are joining |
| Minutes of the last 2–3 board meetings | How this board really works |
| Most recent board pack | A worked example of a meeting |
| Safeguarding policy | The one they will be asked about first |
| Conflicts of interest policy + register form | To read, then sign |
| Expenses, social media and financial controls policies | CC30's other named examples |
| Plans, priorities and values | One page beats forty |
| Links to CC3 and the Commission's 5-minute guides | The official essentials |
| Who's who and meeting dates for the year | Names, faces, diary |
| Eligibility declaration form | The legally required signature (next section) |
Half of most welcome packs already exists — it is just scattered across nine inboxes. Trustee Meetings is a simple board-meetings tool built for small UK charities. It keeps board packs, minutes, actions and policies in one place every trustee can find, so your next welcome pack takes ten minutes, not an afternoon. Free until your first board meeting is done, no card, no clock running. Then £180 a year (or £15 a month), every trustee included. Try it with your board
The paperwork that IS compulsory
Now the "musts". There are three, plus a check for some charities.
The disqualification declaration. CC30 is blunt: "You must ask potential trustees to make a written declaration that they are not disqualified." The automatic disqualification rules (updated January 2026, under the Charities Act 2011 as amended) bar people with unspent convictions for dishonesty, terrorism, money laundering or bribery, undischarged bankrupts, disqualified directors and others — unless the Commission grants a waiver. Put the blank declaration form in the pack and collect it signed before the appointment is confirmed.
Update the register. CC30 again: "you must update your charity's register page using My Charity Commission Account." Do it the week the trustee is appointed — one useful side effect is that the Commission then emails them its own welcome pack.
Charitable companies: tell Companies House. Trustees of charitable companies are directors, and you must report director changes to Companies House within 14 days. Fourteen days passes quickly. Diary it on appointment day.
DBS checks where relevant. For roles working with children or vulnerable adults, CC30's instruction is "Always get a DBS standard, enhanced, or enhanced with barred list check" when the role is eligible for one. It also says you "should usually collect and check references" — good practice for every appointment.
Keep it small-charity sized
The failure mode here is the fifty-page binder. Historic England's advice to boards is "a concise but thorough trustee handbook" — and their fuller point is that onboarding is regular conversation, not just documents.
So: a one-page contents sheet on top, the documents behind it, nothing else. Digital beats paper for keeping it current — a pack assembled in 2023 is a small museum. If your board's documents already live in one shared place, the "pack" is mostly a list of links, refreshed in minutes each time someone joins.
One person should own it. Usually the secretary; the chair signs the actual welcome note. And yes, include a welcome note — it is the only page guaranteed to be read.
From pack to induction
The pack is week one. The Charity Governance Code — refreshed in November 2025, and now a single code for charities of every size — expects that "The charity has an agreed process for inducting new trustees", and suggests an induction checklist as evidence you have one. NCVO puts it plainly: "Trustee induction is vital" — the process should include introductions, event invitations and buddying or coaching, not just documents.
In practice that means three follow-ups:
- Work through the new trustee induction checklist over the first three months.
- Prepare them properly for their first board meeting — pack read, questions welcomed, no ambush.
- Have the chair take real ownership of the welcome; how a meeting is run teaches a new trustee more than any document.
Send the agenda for their first meeting with the pack itself. An agenda plus context is confidence; an agenda without context is homework.
Frequently asked questions
Is a trustee welcome pack a legal requirement? No. The Commission's list in CC30 is a "should" — good practice it expects, not law. The genuine legal steps around an appointment are the signed disqualification declaration, the register update via My Charity Commission Account and, for charitable companies, notifying Companies House within 14 days.
What should be in a trustee welcome pack? CC30's list: governing document, latest annual report and accounts, management accounts and budget, recent minutes, key policies (safeguarding, expenses, conflicts of interest, social media, financial controls), your plans, priorities and values, and the Commission's guidance on trustee responsibilities, including the 5-minute guides.
Doesn't the Charity Commission already send new trustees a welcome pack? Yes — it emails its own welcome pack to each new trustee. That pack covers the role in general; it cannot contain your charity's documents. You need both.
What must a new trustee sign before they start? A written declaration that they are not disqualified — CC30 says you must ask for this before appointment. A code of conduct and a register-of-interests form are good practice additions, not legal requirements.
Who cannot be a charity trustee? Anyone caught by the automatic disqualification rules — unspent convictions for dishonesty, terrorism, money laundering or bribery, undischarged bankruptcy, director disqualification and others — unless the Commission grants a waiver. Minimum age is 16 for charitable companies and CIOs, 18 for other charities.
How long should a trustee welcome pack be? Short. A one-page contents sheet plus the documents themselves. If a new trustee cannot read it in an evening, cut it.
Is a welcome pack the same as trustee induction? No. The pack is the documents; induction is the three-month process of meetings, introductions and support around them. This guide is the pack; the induction checklist is the process.
This guide covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own charity regulators and their own guidance.
Assemble the pack once, keep it somewhere every trustee can find it, and your next new trustee starts informed instead of guessing. Next, work through the new trustee induction checklist for the three months that follow, and get them ready for their first board meeting. Browse the full guides library, or try it with your board.