The Charity Commission is assessing governance concerns at the Dartington Hall Trust after several of its trustees left in recent months.
The commission opened a compliance case in July last year, first reported by Totnes Pulse, after concerns about the charity’s governance and financial position were raised.
Since David Triesman took over as the charity’s chair in March 2023, nine trustees have left for various reasons, including the death of one and the expiration of some board members’ terms in post.
The departures had left the charity with two trustees, but it announced the appointment of two more last week and a spokesperson told Civil Society that it is coming close to appointing a fifth.
A spokesperson for the commission told Civil Society: “We continue to engage with trustees of the Dartington Hall Trust as part of an ongoing regulatory compliance case to assess governance concerns.”
Efforts to cut financial losses
The trust recorded net deficits for each of the last five financial years, according to its annual accounts filed with the commission, with a net deficit of £4.5m for the financial year ending August 2023, which was filed 235 days late.
Its spokesperson said the charity’s current focus is to recover from the years of financial losses.
“We're not there yet, but we're making very significant progress with the support of our banks, staff, tenants and members,” they said.
Its spokesperson said the charity recently closed its higher education college, which was costing the trust to lose around half a million pounds.
The trust has met once with the commission in February this year over Zoom to address its governance concerns, its spokesperson said.
Triesman said in the charity’s latest accounts for the financial year to August 2023: “These documents have regrettably but inevitably been delayed by the complexity and scale of our present financial and operational restructuring.
“The financial statements reflect the difficult challenges I encountered on becoming chair in January 2023, and the results predate the work of the turnaround team that began to replace the trust's senior executive management from July 2023.
“These financial troubles are well documented and there is little to be gained from revisiting them more than a year after the turnaround commenced.
“Nonetheless, I must make an important point about our strategy: it is aimed at securing a sustainable future for Dartington Estate which is not dependent on a perennial combination of disposals, unpredictable benefaction and hope.”
Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that the compliance case opened in July 2024 after concerns about the charity’s governance and financial position were raised.
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