On behalf of one of our member village halls: one of the members of their management committee (who is also the premises licence holder for the hall) has asked me if their would be any issues if he was to become the caretaker for the hall too, a role which he would be paid for. Please could you advise me on this, and if it would be acceptable to the Charity Commission.

About 12 months ago I resigned from the staff of a church (a registered charity), where I had been the general operations manager and part of the senior leadership (but not a trustee). I have continued to serve as part of the leadership as a volunteer. Due to a number of changes within the leadership over the past 18 months, I am now being asked to stand as a Trustee.

Can you advise what responsibility I would be accepting as a Trustee and whether my past relationship and employment with the organisation would have a bearing on those responsibilities? (e.g. actions/decisions by past trustees, in particular during my previous period of employment). Many thanks.

A small charitable organisation is paying an accountant to be their Treasurer. I understand that this is acceptable to the Charity Commission if in the best interests of the charity and they have no other suitable person to do the job. If this person is Treasurer should they then also be a trustee and are there likely to be any other issues in this situation? Many thanks

Dear Charlie,

Thank you for the previous answer re: debt recovery. A charitable company has a mortgage taken out by one of the directors / trustee for £38k with:- 'Fixed & floating charge over the undertaking and all the land & whatever rights that exist over the land now and in the future and all property and all assets present and future including goodwill, book debts.'

Some other highlights:- The charitable company went into administration and was run under licence by a Co. Limited by shares, & all income & expenditure incurred by this CLS was transferred back to the charity and incorporated into the accounts; this agreement ceased when creditors agreed a percentage of their debts in a single payment. Accounts have been passed 'true & fair'.

Can you shed any light on the above - is the mortgage charge normal? Is the arangement with the CLS while in adminisdtration usual? Any help appreciated.

Dear Charlie,

Where a director has lent a charity/company (dual registration) money to keep the organisation afloat, what are the restrictions/normal requirements for that charity/company to pay the money lent back to the director?

Also the same organisation has recently come out of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) where HMRC accepted the arrangemants agreed under the CVA - what are the impacts on the organisations charitable status, if any?

Any information very much appreciated.

We are a registered charity providing studio space to artists since 1977. We and have just been informed that our Trustees (or their relatives/associates) can't lease studio space from us at below market rent. Is this true? I hope so because having these beneficiaries on our Board is not a positive thing! This affects 4 out of 9 Trustees.

I am concerned over the governance of a charity which has a major contract to provide services to the Council of which I am an elected member. The charity was established last year, specifically to take up this contract, and is a 'local offshoot' of a previously established charity which already existed to supply similar services to another Council. There are now three separate bodies - charities for each of the 2 contracts, plus a holding company which is linked to both. The Managing Director of the holding company (ie the boss of the whole organisation) was made a trustee of the charity serving my Council - and is incidentally also a trustee of the charity serving the other Council. I find this all very strange - that the 'head of paid service' can also be a trustee, especially in circumstances where presumably the individual was involved in the appointment of (other) trustees. Also, in response to a recent written question to the company from a member of the public about the existence and role of the 'local trustees', the MD responded with some info about the other trustees but added that as she was also a trustee any comments or complaints to trustees could be directed to her ! I have been unable to see a copy of the charity's governing documents, so I don't know what they say about allowing payments, and nor do I know whether the organisation has cleared this issue with the Charity Commission. However, i am concerned about governance, accountability and conflict of interest issues and would welcome your comments.

Hi Charlie I am working with a charity who are in the process of becoming a company limited by guarantee. The new company has a Pre School Learning Alliance MM&A. The co Secretary works for a cut price gas/elec co & has agreed that any sales to the pre-school parents commission will be paid to the pre-school. The co Sec will also receive a commission. The take up of the service has been minimal but would the commission payments be seen as a benefit to the co secretary? I have e-mailed the Charity Commission and they did not clarify the position.

The answer to this question has been made open as an example of the Experts Online service. For information on subscribing to Experts Online register your interest here

Can you advise me as to where I might find any good practice advice relating to the issue of personal relationships between charity trustees and members of the charity staff. The issue in question is a chair having become involved with and subsequently marrying a member of staff of the charity and seemingly refusing to see any potential conflict of interest. It feels like poor governance practice to me but I do not have any direct source material or documentation to suggest this. Can you help ?