A charity registered in England or Wales must write a trustees' annual report for every financial year. The report has to cover the charity's reference details, how it is governed, its purposes and activities, what it achieved, and a financial review. If the charity's accounts must be audited, it also has to report on its fundraising. A copy goes to the Charity Commission within ten months of the year end if gross income is over £25,000.
That is the short version. The detail depends on which accounts your charity prepares, and for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2026 the rulebook has changed. Searchers often type "trustees annual report charity" and land on guidance for a different regulator, so check that anything you read applies to England and Wales.
Does your charity need to prepare a trustees' annual report?
If the charity is registered, yes. The Charity Commission's guidance puts it without qualification: you must write a trustees' annual report if your charity is registered in England or Wales. In plain terms, registered charities must produce the report every year, whatever their size. The legal duty sits in section 162 of the Charities Act 2011, which requires the charity trustees to prepare an annual report for each financial year of the charity. The report must contain a report by the trustees on the charity's activities in that year, and any other information that regulations prescribe.
The report is the narrative half of the charity's financial statements. It tells readers about the charity's work, achievements and impact, where its money comes from and how it was spent in the past year. It matters because beneficiaries and potential funders read it, and because it is a public document.
Two groups are treated differently:
- Exempt charities. Section 167 says nothing in sections 162 to 166 applies to an exempt charity.
- Excepted charities that are not registered. Under section 168, the annual report provisions do not apply to certain unregistered excepted charities. For some of them, though, section 168(3) says the trustees must prepare an annual report if the Commission asks them to, for the year the Commission specifies.
If you are unsure which category you are in, the governing document and the Commission's register are the places to start. The Commission publishes separate accounts guidance for trusts and unincorporated associations, for charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) and for charitable companies, and it tells you to read the one that matches your charity's type.
Charitable companies carry extra paperwork. They must also prepare a directors' report, which can be combined with the trustees' annual report, and medium and large charitable companies must prepare a strategic report.
Do you need to prepare annual accounts?
Yes. All charities must prepare annual accounts and make them available on request, whether or not they are registered with the Commission. The trustees' annual report travels with those accounts. Registered charities with gross income over £25,000, and all CIOs, file their accounts and report with the Charity Commission.
Which financial accounts you prepare depends on the charity's income and on whether it is a charitable company. There are two methods:
- Receipts and payments accounts, the simpler method, which records the cash that actually came in and went out.
- Accruals accounts, prepared on the accruals basis, where income is recognised when it is earned and expenditure when it is incurred, whatever the date of payment.
Both methods need a trustees' annual report. Many charities start on receipts and payments and move to accruals as income grows, and charitable companies prepare accruals accounts from the outset. Our guide to receipts and payments or accruals accounts helps you decide which applies. It matters because the report you write follows the accounts you prepare.
Charity accounts: what changes from 30 September 2026
The Commission's accounts guidance, last updated on 16 September 2026, records two changes. First, SORP 2026 applies to accounting years starting on or after 1 January 2026. Second, changes to accounting thresholds come into effect on 30 September 2026 and apply to financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026.
In practice, that means a charity with a year end on or after 30 September 2026 needs to check its income against the new thresholds before choosing its accounts. The Commission publishes a "Threshold changes at a glance" page for this. Figures in older guides, including those for charities with income above or below a given line, may no longer hold. The Commission's trustees' annual report guidance, updated on the same date, still gives £500,000 as the line for the public benefit reporting choice and £25,000 as the line for sending the report.
Which rules apply to your year: SORP 2019 or SORP 2026
The Charities SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) is the framework for accounting and reporting by charities that prepare accruals accounts. The Commission's guidance says which edition governs the report:
| Financial year starts | Accruals-accounts charity must follow |
|---|---|
| On or before 31 December 2025 | Charities SORP 2019 |
| On or after 1 January 2026 | Charities SORP 2026 |
So a charity with a calendar-year financial year follows SORP 2026 from the year beginning 1 January 2026. A charity whose year began on 1 October 2025 reports under SORP 2019 for that year and moves to SORP 2026 for the next.
The Commission's guidance used to be published as the document CC15d, "Charity reporting and accounting: the essentials" (November 2016). The same web address now carries the current "Charity accounts" guidance. The older CC15d-era guidance remains available as "Charity reports and accounts: November 2016 to before 1 January 2026" for earlier years. Think of it this way: the Commission's guidance tells you what the law and the regulator require. The SORP sets out in detail how an accruals-accounts charity should present its report and accounts. Across the charitable sector, the two are meant to be read together.
How to write a trustees' report: what a smaller charity must include
The Commission lays the report out under headings. A charity preparing receipts and payments accounts can prepare a simple report. The Commission says you can decide how to present it, but you must meet all the legal requirements, and you can add more detail if you wish. So the answer to whether you can put additional items in is yes: the legal content is a floor, and extra information is welcome where it helps readers. The report must also state the financial year it relates to.
A practical way to write it is to work through the headings in order, keep the language plain, and delegate the technical sections. A charity-sector guide on trustee reporting suggests handing detailed or technical issues to a committee or a lead trustee, and briefing any trustee who is likely to want to get into the detail early. Delegating the drafting does not delegate the responsibility, which stays with the trustees.
Reference and administrative details
The report must include:
- the name the charity is registered under, and any other names it uses
- the charity's registration number
- the address of its main or head office
- the names of all the trustees on the date the report was approved, or who served as a trustee during the reporting period
- where the charity has a corporate trustee, the names of the directors of that corporate trustee on the date the report was approved
Where there are more than 50 trustees, you must name at least 50, and they must include the chair and the treasurer. The Commission also deals with the case where trustees do not want their names and addresses published. There is a process for getting Commission authority not to provide them, so apply for that authority; do not simply leave names out.
Structure, governance and management
The report must say what the governing document is, for example a trust deed or a constitution, with its date. It must also say if any person or organisation is entitled to appoint trustees, and give their name.
Objectives and activities, and the public benefit statement
The report must set out the charity's purposes. It must describe the main activities in the year that helped carry out those purposes for the public benefit. It must also include a statement on whether the trustees have had regard to the Commission's public benefit guidance. Trustees approving the report are acting in the best interests of the charity when they make sure that statement is accurate and not boilerplate.
The Commission is specific about how much public benefit reporting a smaller charity needs. If gross annual income is £500,000 or less, you can choose how to report on it. As a minimum you must say:
- what the charity's charitable purposes are
- what the charity did during the year to carry out those purposes for the public benefit
- that you took the Commission's public benefit guidance into account when making any decision it is relevant to
Above £500,000 you provide extra information, and the level of detail depends on which SORP tier the charity is in.
Achievements and performance
The report must summarise the main achievements of the year. The Commission suggests covering how the work has made a difference to beneficiaries, and whether it has brought wider benefits to society as a whole. That is the direct answer to how a charity shows it made a difference: say what changed for the people it serves, and say so for society more widely where that is true.
On impact, a SORP 2019 compliance checklist from an accountancy firm suggests thinking in terms of inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts, with impact seen as the long-term effect on individual beneficiaries and on society. It also lists key performance indicators that explain the outputs of each activity. Reports that stop at a list of activities, with no outcomes, are the ones that read as thin to funders. Where you can, set results against the objectives you gave. One caution: keep the tone objective, because a report that avoids problems or is over-optimistic undermines the trustees' own decision making.
Financial review
This is where trustees most often write too little. The Commission says the review of the charity's financial position must:
- explain any policy the charity has for determining the level of reserves
- state the amount of those reserves and why they are held
- identify, when determining the level of reserves, any designated funds (funds set aside for particular projects where there is no legal requirement to spend them on that project), and the amount and purpose of any material commitments and planned expenditure
- explain, where any fund is in deficit, how the deficit occurred and the steps being taken to remove it
If the charity has no reserves policy, say so and give the reasons. A blank space is not an acceptable substitute. The charity reserves figure should tie back to the balance sheet and to the bank accounts and investments behind it.
A financial review that speaks to the numbers does more than repeat them. It explains why income and expenditure moved, what the year-end position means, and how the reserves compare with the policy. A small-charity guide from an accountancy firm suggests explaining the surplus or deficit and the balance of total funds, restricted and unrestricted, and giving plans to improve the position where reserves are above or below the policy. The same guide adds a risk assessment covering the principal risks and uncertainties and how they are managed. Keep your plans for future periods consistent with the charity's business plan and budget, so the report and the board papers tell one story. Compare cash and balance sheet data with plan, and do not rely on the income and expenditure account alone.
Funds held as a holding trustee
This section applies only if the charity acted as a holding trustee: someone appointed to hold property for a charity. A holding trustee is not a charity trustee and can only act on the lawful instructions of the charity trustees. A charity that did so during the period must describe the assets held, name the charity (or charities) they are held for and its purposes, and set out how the assets are kept safe and kept separate from the charity's own assets.
What changes for accruals accounts and the SORP
A charity that prepares accruals accounts must follow the SORP in its report. Under SORP 2026 the requirements are organised under these 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; and funds held as a holding trustee. The Commission says the level of detail depends on which SORP tier the charity is in, and sends readers to the SORP itself for the full requirements. The financial information has to be consistent with the accounts it sits beside.
Two features of the SORP help when you are drafting. First, it distinguishes "must", "should" and "may". A "must" is a requirement, and not following it is a departure from the SORP. A "should" is good practice, and not following it is not counted as a departure. Second, it allows exemptions from disclosure in limited cases, such as withholding a trustee's or senior staff member's name, or the principal address, where the SORP's conditions are met.
A SORP 2019 checklist from an accountancy firm shows how the report grows for larger charities. It treated charities with gross income over £500,000 as "large" and marked extra items for them. These included policies for trustee induction and training, how pay for key management personnel is set, relationships with related parties, and a statement that major risks have been reviewed and that systems are in place for risk management. Check the current SORP 2026 for how those expectations are now tiered before relying on the 2019 pattern.
What is added when the accounts need an audit
The Commission's guidance says that if your charity must have its accounts audited, the report must also include information on fundraising. It must state:
- the fundraising approach taken by the charity or by anyone acting on its behalf
- whether a professional fundraiser or commercial participator carried out any fundraising
- whether the charity is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and commits to complying with the Code of Fundraising Practice
- whether anyone acting on the charity's behalf subscribes to the Code
- any failure to comply with the Code, with details
- whether the charity monitored the fundraising of anyone acting on its behalf and, if so, how
- the number of complaints received about its fundraising, by the charity or by anyone acting for it
- what the charity has done to protect vulnerable people and other members of the public from behaviour that is an unreasonable intrusion on a person's privacy, unreasonably persistent, or places undue pressure on a person to give money or other property
The legal basis is section 162A of the Charities Act 2011, inserted in November 2016. It defines fundraising as soliciting or otherwise procuring money or other property for charitable purposes.
What counts as "must have its accounts audited" depends on your charity's type and the current thresholds, and the thresholds changed for financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026. Check the figure for your charity type with the Commission before you decide, rather than relying on an older guide. Our guide to independent examination thresholds covers where the lines fall between examination and audit. Charities with income above the relevant line need to plan the fundraising section early, because the complaints count and monitoring details take time to gather.
Who approves and signs the report
The report must be dated and signed by one or more trustees who have been authorised to do so by the other trustees. A decision at a trustee meeting, minuted, is the clean way to record that authority.
Trustees stay responsible for the content even when someone else writes it. An accountancy firm's checklist makes the point that the report is the trustees' document, whether they draft it themselves or it is drafted by the chief executive or senior managers.
Electronic signatures are acceptable. The Commission says an electronic signature can be a typed or a scanned version of a handwritten signature. First check what the governing document says about handwritten or electronic signatures. If it says nothing, you can use electronic signatures on balance sheets, accounts, trustees' annual reports and the independent examiner's report, including copies you keep and copies you send to the Commission.
Filing: who, where and when
The Charities Act 2011 sets the rules in section 163. The Commission's guidance describes how to submit: upload a copy of the report when you send the annual return, using your Charity Commission account.
| Situation | What the charity must do |
|---|---|
| Gross income in the financial year exceeds £25,000 | Send a copy of the annual report to the Charity Commission within 10 months of the end of the financial year |
| Gross income does not exceed £25,000 | Send a copy only if the Commission asks |
| Commission's request made before the end of 7 months from the year end | Send within 10 months of the year end |
| Commission's request made later | Send within 3 months of the date of the request |
| CIO | Send a copy (the Commission's guidance names CIOs regardless of income) |
The Commission may allow a longer period for a special reason, under section 163(1)(b). That is a discretion for the Commission to exercise, and trustees should not treat it as a right. If you think you will miss the date, contact the Commission before it passes.
Worked example. A charity's financial year ends on 31 December 2026 and its gross income is £180,000. Ten months from the end of that year is 31 October 2027. The trustees approve and sign the report and accounts, then upload the report with the annual return by that date.
A second case: a small trust has gross income of £20,000. It need not send the report unless the Commission asks. If the request arrives in the first seven months after the year end, the report is due by the tenth month. If it arrives later, the trustees have three months from the date of the request.
A few other filing points:
- Publication. Reports and accounts are published by the Commission on its register for anyone to read. It cannot remove personal data and can redact it only in very limited circumstances. UK GDPR applies, so check that any personal data you include is necessary, fully justified and not excessive.
- Keeping a copy. If you were not required to send the report to the Commission, section 165 requires the trustees to keep it for at least six years from the end of the financial year. If the charity ceases to exist within that time, the last trustees must continue to keep it unless the Commission consents in writing to its disposal.
- Groups. A parent charity preparing group accounts must include in its report the activities of its subsidiary undertakings (section 166). The £25,000 test for sending the report is then applied to the group's aggregate gross income.
The ten months is set by statute, so treat it as the date to work back from. Allow time for examination or audit before the trustees sign, because the report goes to the Commission with the accounts.
Where trustee reports go wrong
The Commission's requirements are mostly plain. Reports go wrong where they ask trustees to say something specific and the trustees leave a gap. These are the ones worth checking before signing:
- The financial year is not stated. The report must specify the year it covers.
- The reserves section is vague. Say what the policy is, state the reserves figure, and explain why. If there is no policy, say so and give the reason.
- The public benefit statement is missing or generic. The three minimum points in the Commission's guidance are purposes, what was done in the year, and that the public benefit guidance was taken into account.
- Trustee names are incomplete. Name the trustees at the approval date or those who served in the period, and name the directors of any corporate trustee.
- The wrong SORP edition is used. The edition follows the date the financial year starts, not the date the report is signed.
- Fundraising information is left out of a report for audited accounts. The Commission treats it as required content.
- Personal data goes in unchecked. Anything in the report ends up on the public register.
- Nobody was authorised to sign. One or more trustees must be authorised by the others, and the report must be dated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all charities have to write a trustees' annual report?
Every registered charity in England and Wales must. Exempt charities are outside the annual report provisions of the Charities Act 2011. Some unregistered excepted charities need only prepare one if the Commission asks.
Does a small charity with receipts and payments accounts need a full report?
No. The Commission says a charity preparing receipts and payments accounts can prepare a simple report, though it must still meet all the legal requirements, including the reference details, governance, purposes and activities, achievements and financial review set out above.
Can I add extra items to the report?
Yes. The Commission says you can put more detail into the report if you want to, provided you meet every legal requirement first.
Is the trustees' annual report filed every year?
The report is prepared every financial year. A copy goes to the Commission within ten months of the year end if gross income exceeds £25,000, and below that only on the Commission's request. CIOs send a copy as well.
What is CC15d?
CC15d was the Commission's "Charity reporting and accounting: the essentials" guidance, first published in November 2016. The current Commission guidance on charity accounts is at the same address, and the earlier version is kept for periods before 1 January 2026.
Who has to sign?
One or more trustees authorised by the other trustees. Electronic signatures are allowed unless the governing document says otherwise.
Getting the report and accounts done
Deplexify prepares accounts and tax for UK charities, among other organisations. The charities page sets out what we do for charities in England and Wales.
Sources
- Charity accounts - GOV.UK — gov.uk, read 2026-10-19
- Prepare a trustees' annual report for your charity - GOV.UK — gov.uk, read 2026-10-19
- Charities Act 2011 — legislation.gov.uk, read 2026-10-19
- MHA-NFP-Trustees-compliance-checklist-LC-Proofed_July-2020_Final.pdf — mha.co.uk, read 2026-10-19
- Example Trustee Report Template — charityexcellence.co.uk, read 2026-10-19
- What Should be Included in a Charity’s Trustees’ Report? - Johnston Smillie — jsca.co.uk, read 2026-10-19
- Annual Reports And Returns Your Charity Needs To Make — blog.davidhoward.co.uk, read 2026-10-19
- Charity Commission Accounts Templates & Finance Resources — charityexcellence.co.uk, read 2026-10-19