November 9, 2022
Last Updated on November 9, 2022
What do you need to consider before becoming a trustee in the social care sector? What’s involved in the role and why is it important?
Sara Livadeas has experienced working with boards from both a trustee and a chief executive role. She shares her thoughts here.
Being a trustee of a social care organisation is an immensely important role, yet many people become trustees without the foggiest idea of what being a trustee is all about. They learn on the job and they are likely to find that the role is satisfying and frustrating in equal measure. For executives, who might be working with essentially amateur boards, the whole thing can be a bit of a minefield.
Why are trustees important?
Although they may not know it when they join, appointed as Directors of the company, the trustees of charity boards are the final decision-makers. They set the direction for the organisation, working with the Chief Executive (and possibly other stakeholders) to define the strategy. They are responsible for setting the budget, ensuring that finances are sound and risks are managed. Trustees can find themselves in the highly uncomfortable position of facing personal responsibility if the charity’s finances are not well managed or, equally likely, the organisation faces insolvency due to external events.
In social care, trustees are ultimately responsible for care quality. They need to understand what this means, what evidence and data they should be considering, the frequency of reporting, and how to take remedial action if care quality falls below standard. Their role is not just about the money.
When it’s working well the board offers experience, wisdom, scrutiny and support to the management team. When it’s not working well, trustees may find themselves embroiled in operational matters or, through lack of understanding of their role, trying to micromanage the day to day, thus essentially doing the job of the executive team, who are appointed by the board, to run the charity.
Characteristics of trustees
Estimates of the number of trustees in the UK hovers at around 800,000 to 1 million individuals, most of whom are unpaid, with the majority running charities where there are no employees (village halls, grant making bodies and so on).
For the larger charities, there is a real question over the extent to which trustee boards reflect the communities they serve. Research in 2017 found that two-thirds of trustees are aged over 50, 92% are white, 60% hold a professional qualification, two-thirds are male, and three-quarters are from households above the national median for household income. In other words, charity boards are not very diverse, being largely represented by older, financially secure white men. While many organisations are trying to do something about this lack of diversity, often hamstrung by a perceived – if not actual – lack of resources, there is a tendency for trustees to recruit through their own networks by word of mouth. This type of informal recruitment will inevitably attract more people who ‘look like them’.
Social care charities have a variety of methods of involving beneficiaries on their boards, including board membership, giving people who use services a slot during meetings to represent their views, showing videos or reporting on feedback from customers. There are organisations, such as self-advocacy charities, where control on the board sits with beneficiaries, but it is fair to say that meaningful service user participation in charity governance is underdeveloped.
The governance of charities has been bolstered in recent years. The Charity Commission does not regulate as such but it does expect charitable organisations to follow both the Governance Code and guidance on the role of the trustee – which sets out for example a maximum tenure for trustees. Even so, considering the value of the third sector in the UK which spends £46bn a year delivering charitable objectives often to ‘vulnerable’ people, the lack of research, training or control of the volunteer army responsible for this activity is remarkable.
From the trustee perspective
The responsibilities assumed by trustees are immense, especially when the beneficiaries of the charity are receiving care services which can touch every aspect of their lives, care homes or in-patient services for example. It takes at least a year to understand the role and to start to feel useful and all trustees need support to carry out their role effectively. It is concerning that these most senior leaders in the charity sector are not compelled to receive training and many of them do not. Training is generally dry and often delivered by lawyers, there being a tendency to focus on governance and safeguarding. There is too little about purpose and certainly not enough about relationships. For a board to be effective, individuals need to work together, with each other and with the executive team.
Being a trustee can be very satisfying, helping you to feel connected to support and care services that are making a difference to people’s lives, or to feel useful perhaps after formal retirement and continuing to develop personally. It can be very time-consuming. The downside is trustees too often do not get much of a ‘thank you’. The most frustrating aspect is when the contribution is not valued; trustees not being taken seriously or being ignored can lead to real problems of governance and accountability, which may ultimately lead to a deterioration in service quality or even beneficiaries coming to harm.
From the executive perspective
Having a supportive and experienced board who understand their role is invaluable for the organisation. A good non-executive board will prepare for the meetings (read the papers at least), will understand the drivers for performance in the organisation and ask the right questions. Perhaps most critically they will make it safe for the executive team to share bad news. When things go wrong or mistakes are made, rather than blame, they will inquire as to how they can help and what support the executives need to do their job most effectively. The trustee board should give the executive team cover, especially when things have gone wrong, perhaps care quality has lapsed and communication with stakeholders and the media becomes very important.
All chief executives know that the relationship between the Chairperson and the Chief Executive is critically important. Many chief executives will experience anxiety (or relief!) when the Chair leaves and a new one is appointed. Some literally carry a tally in their head, ‘if it came to a vote, how many trustees are with me and how many against me?’. In common with a political party, a divided board cannot function effectively. When things are not working well, managing the board can be very time-consuming for the chief executive, taking them away from managing the organisation.
In summary, there is a lot to be said for being a trustee of a social care organisation, you can learn a lot and make a real difference to a highly valuable sector, but you have to make the time to commit. The support that boards offer to hard-working management teams is critical. But do not expect to be thanked necessarily or given much help to do your role – you may need to ask for training. Importantly, remember to recognise and support each other around the board table so that, as a team, you can effectively run the charity that you cherish.
Sara Livadeas, Independent Consultant, Social Care Works.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @saralivadeas