Part 4: Charity Trustees Section 29: Powers relating to appointments of trustees
Section 29 inserts a new section 184B into the CA 2011, which allows the Charity Commission to resolve uncertainties or defects in the appointment or election of charity trustees.
	The CA 2011 contains a functional test to ascertain who, in any particular charity, is a "charity trustee". If a person has "general control and management of the administration of a charity" then he or she is a "charity trustee": section 177. "Charity trustee" is therefore a description of some underlying role, the performance of which amounts to control and management. The definition would include, for example, the directors of a charitable company, the trustees of a charitable trust, and the members of the management committee of an unincorporated association. Since there is no definitive list of the different roles that fall within the definition of "charity trustee", section 29 introduces the concept of a "qualifying position", which is any position that results in the holder being a "charity trustee" under section 177: section 184B(3). Section 184B(4) provides that the qualifying position need not be a position in the charity itself. So if a charity’s governing document provides that its board of governors (who are the "charity trustees" under section 177) is to include the vicar of a particular parish, that underlying role of vicar would be a "qualifying position".
	If there is uncertainty as to whether a person has been appointed or elected to a qualifying position, or if there has been a defect in such an appointment or election, section 184B allows the Charity Commission to ratify – prospectively – the appointment or election. An order can only be sought with the consent of the person who would be the subject of the ratification order. Section 184B is a stand-alone power which is designed for cases where there is uncertainty about the validity of an appointment or election (or it is known that the appointment or election was invalid), so as to avoid the need to repeat the appointment or election process. The Charity Commission does not have to decide the question of whether or not there was in fact a valid election or appointment before exercising the power; it is enough that the election or appointment might not be valid. In some cases, it might be that the Charity Commission’s existing powers to appoint trustees (under sections 69 and 80 of the CA 2011) could be used instead of section 184B.
	If the Charity Commission makes an order under section 184B(2), then the Charity Commission can in appropriate cases also make an order vesting or transferring property, as it could on the appointment or removal of a trustee under section 69 of the CA 2011: section 184B(5)(a). In addition, it can confirm the validity of acts done by that person before the order was made: section 184B(5)(b).