At a meeting on Thursday (13 September) the trustees of the Shetland Charitable Trust put to bed contention over whether to proceed with the OSCR-approved restructure of its governance, agreeing to delay it no further.

Speaking with civilsociety.co.uk the Trust's chairman Drew Ratter advised that the Trust will be advertising for eight appointed trustees and requesting the Council to put forward candidates for the seven elected board members under the new structure "shortly". 

An EGM was held on Thursday following a string of correspondence with OSCR and press coverage that confirmed dissent within the Trust's board over whether to proceed, including an overt disapproval of the restructure penned by vice chairman Dr Jonathan Wills in the Shetland Times.

Wills said the restructure would end democratic control of the organisation and derided being bound by decisions taken by board members' predecessors. He criticised OSCR's strong arm on the matter, after the regulator's chief executive, David Robb, warned he would look into every power available to the regulator, including suspending trustees or seeking more permanent action at the Court of Session if the restructure was not moved on. With trustee liability, this could be "personally ruinous" for trustees, Wills asserted.

But speaking to civilsociety.co.uk Ratter supported OSCR: "They did in my view have a point. The charity first asked them to approve the restructure. The charity has been dodging around this for years and years. I wasn't surprised that OSCR said that it was time to do something."

Thursday's meeting provided clarity on the matter, he advised:

"The Trust agreed by a pretty large majority, I think it was something like 10:6 to proceed along the lines they were previously asked to proceed. 

"In my view we have made a democratic decision. I feel myself that I am entirely bound by that decision. I don't think that when democratic decisions are made, it is appropriate to endlessly visit them if you don't like them.

"If you want to be part of a body, it's necessary to take responsibility for decisions when they are made, and that's an absolute really."

In a letter dated 13 August, Robb had warned any trustee who was not content with the agreed restructure to "consider their position".  Asked whether any trustees stated their intention to leave the charity at Thursday's meeting, Ratter said:

"I can’t really comment on that. We will be advertising quite soon for independent trustees as according to the scheme laid down. We will see what sort of response we get to that. We will also be sending a note to the Council asking them to send councillors as trustees, but at that point it becomes a decision for the Council."

OSCR welcomes clarity

Responding to the Trust's meeting OSCR's chief executive David Robb said:

"This is another positive step and we are pleased that the charity trustees have decided to implement their reorganisation as planned. This removes a major question mark over the structure of the Trust and places its governance on a sustainable basis for the future.

"We look forward to maintaining our ongoing dialogue and working with Shetland Charitable Trust to ensure that the reforms take place as soon as is possible," Robb said.

Going forward

OSCR first applied pressure on the Sheltand Charitable Trust to restructure its board in 2009 after concerns were raised over its independence from the Shetland Island Council and conflicts of interest this created. The Trust currently has 22 trustees, 20 are ex officio appointments as Shetland Island councillors.  

The board submitted restructure plans to OSCR in January 2012 and despite receiving 68 objections, the plans were approved by the regulator in July 2012. However, in the intervening period, Council elections had taken place and new trustees had entered the Trust, including Wills and Ratter who are both Shetland Island councillors. 

Robb's letter of 13 August pointed to delays in the implementation of the retructure, which had promised to amend the trust's deed within two weeks of approval. At five weeks post-approval this had still not been done. But Ratter advised this was down to allowing an appropriate timescale to arrange meetings to discuss, and was not to do with dissent. 

"The decision we took early on is that we wouldn’t attempt to do this without setting up special meetings, and that’s something we did. So the major decisions we’ve made have been made in the normal timetable which gives everybody a fair chance to participate and to prepare and so on. 

"I took on this position in early June following the council elections. My chairpersonship is now about four months old and I’m reasonably satisfied that things have moved on respectively in that period.

"We are predicting that the new Trust will be set and meeting and up and running by some time in March next year. I see no reason why we can’t meet that timetable."