About charity trustees’ annual reports

Your trustees’ annual report helps people understand what your charity does, particularly potentialyour funderscharity’s beneficiaries and beneficiaries.potential funders.

You needmust to write a trustees’ annual report if your charity is registered in England or Wales. Along with your accounts, the report tells people:

• about your charity’s workwork, achievements and impact
• where your money comes from
• how you’ve spent your money in the past year

Reports for smallcharities non-companypreparing charitiesreceipts and payment accounts

If your charity’scharity incomeprepares isreceipts underand £500,000payment (andaccounts, providingyou itcan doesn’tprepare havea assetssimple worthreport. Read guidance or use this accounts tool if you need help to understand what accounts to prepare.

You can decide how you present your report, but you must meet all the legal requirements set out below. You can put more thandetail £3.26million),into prepareyour atrustees’ simpleannual report including:if you want to.

The report must specify the financial year to which it relates.

Reference and administrative details

Your report must include:

• yourthe charity’sname name,under which the charity is registered, and any other names the charity uses
• the charity’s registration number,number
• the address andof the charity’s main or head office
• the names of all the charity’s trustees on the date the report was approved, or who served as a trustee in the reporting period. Where there are more than 50 trustees, you must give the names of at least 50 trustees including the charity’s chair and treasurer
• itswhere structurea andcharity detailshas a corporate trustee, the names of howthe itdirectors isof managed,the includingcorporate howtrustee iton recruitsthe date the report was approved

Read about getting Charity Commission authority not to provide the names and addresses of trustees.

Structure, governance and management

Your report must:

• say what the charity’s governing document is. For example, trust deed dated (give the date), constitution dated (give the date)
• itsexplain activitiesif any person or organisation is entitled to appoint trustees. Give the name of that person or organisation

Objectives and objectivesactivities

Your inreport must:

• set out the yearcharity’s purposes
• itsdescribe achievementsthe andcharity’s performance,main includingactivities reportingin onthe year that have helped it carry out its purposes for the public benefit
• include a financialstatement reviewas includingto anywhether debtsthe charity’s trustees have had regard to the Commission’s public benefit guidance. Read guidance about reporting on public benefit

Achievement and detailsperformance

You must give a summary of the charity’s main achievements during the year. This could include:

• how your reservescharity’s policywork (ifhas applicable)made a difference to its beneficiaries
• detailsif ofthe charity’s work has provided any fundswider heldbenefits to society as a custodian trusteewhole

A financial review

You canmust:

• explain putany morepolicy detailthe intocharity yourhas trustees’for annualdetermining reportthe iflevel youof wantreserves

• state to.the Youamount onlyof havethose toreserves sendand awhy copythey toare held

• when determining the commissionlevel withof yourreserves annualidentify:
  • any returndesignated iffunds. yourThese incomeare funds set aside for particular projects, but where there is moreno thanlegal £25,000.requirement Butto spend the funds on that project
  • the amount and purpose of any material commitments and planned expenditure
• where any funds of the charity are in deficit, explain how the deficit occurred and the steps you needare taking to sendremove the commissiondeficit

If you do not have a copyreserves ifpolicy ityou asksshould forinclude it.

Reports

Funds forheld largeas ora companyholding charities

PrepareThis section only applies to charities that acted as a fullholding trustees’trustee. annualA reportholding iftrustee either:is appointed to hold property for a charity. It is not a charity trustee, and can only act on the lawful instructions of the charity trustees regarding the property they hold on behalf of the charity. 

A charity that has acted as holding trustee during the reporting period must disclose in the trustees’ annual report:

• youra charity’sdescription incomeof isthe aboveassets, £500,000classes, or categories, of assets which they hold in this capacity
• the name and purposes of the charity (or abovecharities) £250,000on ifwhose itsbehalf the assets are worthheld moreand thanhow £3.26this million)activity falls within the holding charity’s purposes
• yourdetails charityof isthe aarrangements companyfor orsafe CIOcustody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

AYou fullmust reportsend needsa tocopy followof the guidelinesreport setto outthe byCommission SORP.if:

• your charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
• your charity is a trust or unincorporated association and its income is over £25,000
• we ask for it

Upload a copy of your trustees’ annual report as a PDF file when you you send your annual return to the Charity Commission.

We will publish your report and accounts on our website. Read guidance about including personal information in your charity’s annual report.

Charities’Reports SORPfor charities preparing accruals accounts  

AThe statementCharities Statement of recommendedRecommended practicePractice (SORP) gives a framework for charity accounting and reporting,reporting designedfor to:charities preparing accruals accounts.

• help

  For charityfinancial trusteesyears meetstarting theiron legalor requirementbefore for31 theirDecember accounts2025, if your charity is required to giveor chooses to prepare accruals accounts, you must prepare a truetrustees’ andannual fairreport view

• encouragethat consistencycomplies inwith accountingthe standards

For accountingfinancial periodsyears beginningstarting on or after 1 January 20162026, andif beforeyour 1charity Januaryis 2026required useto or chooses to prepare accruals accounts, you must prepare a trustees’ annual report that complies with the Charities SORP (FRS2026.

Read 102)guidance if youror charityuse isthis preparingaccounts accrualstool if you need help to understand what accounts unlessto there’sprepare.

The Charities SORP 2026 requirements are set out under the following headings:

• Objectives and activities
• Achievements and performance
• Financial review
• Plans for future periods
• Structure governance and management
• Reference and administrative details
• Sustainability
• Exemptions from disclosure
• Funds held as a specificholding trustee

The level of detail in your report will depend on which SORP fortier your typecharity ofis charity,in.

See the Charities SORP 2026 for example:full details.

Information on fundraising practices

If your charity must have its accounts audited, your report must also include information on fundraising. It must state:

• furtherthe andfundraising higherapproach educationtaken institutionsby the charity or by anyone acting on its behalf
• whether a professional fundraiser or commercial participator carried out any fundraising activities
• whether the charity is registered socialwith landlordsthe Fundraising Regulator and commits to complying with the Code of Fundraising Practice (‘the Code’)
• whether any person or organisation acting on behalf of the charity subscribes to the Code
• whether the charity, or by any person or organisation acting on its behalf, has failed to comply with the Code. Give details of that failure
• whether the charity monitored the fundraising activities of any person or organisation acting on its behalf and, if so, how
• the number of complaints received by the charity, or by a person or organisation acting on its behalf, about its fundraising

• what the charity has done to protect vulnerable people and other members of the public from behaviour which:

  • is an unreasonable intrusion on a person’s privacy
  • is unreasonably persistent
  • places undue pressure on a person to give money or other property

ThisYou guidancemust willsend bea updatedcopy inof 2026the report to reflectthe requirementsCommission forif:

• your preparingcharity is a reportCharitable forIncorporated accountingOrganisation periods(CIO)
• your startingcharity onis a trust, unincorporated association or aftercompany 1and Januaryits 2026.
  income is over £25,000
• we ask for it

Report

Upload ona copy of your charity’strustees’ publicannual benefit

WhetherWe youwill completepublish ayour simplereport orand fullaccounts trustees’on our website. Read guidance about including personal information in your charity’s annual report,report.

Report byon lawyour youcharity’s mustpublic benefit

Your report must include information on  how youyour havecharity has carried out your charity’s purposes for the public benefit.

This helps people, including funders and beneficiaries, to understand why your charity does what it does.

If your charity’scharity has a gross annual income isof less£500,000 thanor £500,000,less, you can choose how you report on this. But as a minimum you need to say:

• what your charity’s charitable purposes are
• what ityour charity has done during the year to carry out those purposes for the public benefit
• that you have taken the commission’sCommission’s public benefit guidance into account when making any decision it is relevant to

If your charity’scharity incomehas isa moregross thanannual income over £500,000 you alsowill need to:to provide extra information. The level of detail in your report will depend on what SORP tier your charity is in.

• explain

  See yourthe strategyCharities SORP 2026 for meetingfull details.

  Including personal information in your annual report and accounts

  The Charity Commission publishes charity annual reports and accounts on its charitableregister, purposes

• listand they are accessible to everyone. The Commission cannot remove personal data and can only redact data in very limited circumstances.

  You must comply with UK GDPR rules on publishing personal information. Check carefully that any significantpersonal activitiesdata you undertookinclude asin partyour ofaccounts thisand strategy

• giveannual detailsreport is necessary, fully justified and not excessive. 

  See the Commission’s annual return privacy notice for information on what personal data to include in your annual return and accounts and how the Charity Commission processes this.

  Using electronic signatures

  An electronic signature can be a typed or a scanned version of a handwritten signature.

  Check what your charitycharity’s achievedgoverning indocument carryingsays about using handwritten or electronic signatures.

  If it does not say anything, you can use electronic signatures for documents like balance sheets, accounts, trustees’ annual reports and the independent examiner’s report.

  This includes copies you keep, and copies (of accounts and annual reports) you send to the Commission.

  Further guidance

  Find out thesewhat activitiestype of accounts to meetprepare.

  Find itsout purposes

what information you need to send to the Charity Commission.