All charities over the audit threshold should be required to hire a paid governance professional to support their board, governance institute ICSA has said in a letter to Rob Wilson, the minister for civil society.

ICSA, the professional body for chartered secretaries, wrote to the minister to make the recommendation earlier this year.

It called on Wilson (pictured) to introduce a new rule which would apply to all charities over the charity audit threshold – those with gross income over £1m, or gross income over £250,000 and assets over £3.26m.

“Large charities should be required to employ a governance professional to support trustees, who are generally volunteers, to fulfil their legal duties and ensure the organisation achieves its charitable objects in a manner that is commensurate with the values of the sector,” Louise Thomson, head of not-for-profit policy at ICSA: the Governance Institute, wrote last month in her organisation’s magazine.

“We believe that those charities statutorily required to have an external audit would benefit from a governance professional as part of the senior team.

“Beneficiaries, donors, funders, employees, creditors and other stakeholders who engage with charities need the assurance that proper procedures are followed and that corporate governance, regulation, charity and, where applicable, company law do not get overlooked or deliberately forgotten.

“The requirement for a governance professional within charities above that size would ensure that there is someone who can help keep trustees on the straight and narrow. Such a professional will also increase the quality of statutory returns to regulators; acting as a partner to regulatory bodies in their pursuit of improved administration, reporting and decision making.”