Trustee

Become a Trustee and support our mission of closing equality gaps in higher education. This is an opportunity to contribute your expertise to a values-led organisation focused on evidence-based change.

Overview

The Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes (TASO) is an affiliate What Works Centre, and part of the UK Government’s What Works Movement. Our vision is to eliminate equality gaps in higher education. Our mission is to improve lives through evidence-informed practice.

TASO was set up in 2019 and became an independent charity in April 2021. Our work focuses on the generation, synthesis and dissemination of high-quality evidence about effective practice in widening participation and student outcomes. We primarily focus on developing and disseminating causal evidence.

We are now looking to appoint new Trustees to take TASO forward into its next phase of development and ensure we are an effective and impactful organisation. This is a great time to join us on our journey, offering the opportunity to contribute to shaping and developing an organisation that has the potential to transform lives.

What we are looking for

We are looking for people who are values-led with wide-ranging experiences across different sectors who can bring a different way of thinking. Above all, our Trustees will be passionate about what TASO is striving to achieve.

We are looking for a number of new people with the following professional experience to join our Board:

Finance and accountancy
Risk
People
Charity and/or company law

We expect the time commitment to be a day a month. This will include quarterly meetings, occasional considered input into working groups and attendance at sector events.

We are looking for one or more of our new trustees to sit on our finance and risk committee.

You do not necessarily need to have any experience of being a trustee; TASO will give you a full induction and support to help you develop into this role.

We are committed to diversifying the Board and welcome applications from people whose identities are currently under-represented on the Board: LGBTQ+ people, disabled people and Black, Asian and minority ethnic people.

For a confidential discussion about the opportunity please contact Omar Khan, CEO TASO, at omar.khan@taso.org.

The role

The Board of Trustees are responsible for the overall governance and strategic direction of the charity, developing the organisation’s aims, objectives and goals in accordance with the governing document, and legal and regulatory guidelines. The trustee board must act as a group and not as individuals and must always act in the best interests of TASO.

Trustees are unpaid. However, they may be reimbursed for expenses incurred in carrying out their duties in accordance with the travel and expenses policy. TASO is registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and Trustees will therefore benefit from limited liability.

The term of service for Trustees recruited in 2025 will be until 2028 in the first instance.

Statutory duties:

To ensure that TASO complies with its governing document, charity law and any other relevant legislation or regulations
To ensure that TASO pursues its objects as defined in its governing document
To ensure TASO uses its resources exclusively in pursuit of its objects: TASO must not spend money on activities which are not included in its own objects, no matter how worthwhile or charitable those activities are
To contribute actively to the Board’s role in giving strategic direction to the organisation, agreeing overall policy, defining goals and setting targets, and evaluating performance against agreed targets
To safeguard the good name and values of the organisation
To ensure the effective and efficient administration of the organisation
To ensure the financial stability of the organisation
To protect and manage the property of TASO and to ensure the proper investment of TASO funds
To appoint further Trustees, Committee members etc including where relevant interviewing, appointing and monitoring the work and activities of the senior paid staff.

Other duties

In addition to the above statutory duties, each Trustee will be expected to use any specific skills, knowledge or experience they have to help the Board reach sound decisions.

Trustees will be expected to attend an induction session at TASO before their first board meeting. Board meetings are every quarter, and will take place during normal office hours. The majority of Board meetings will be held online, with at least one a year being held at TASO Head Office in London. Absence from all Board meetings in any six-month period without prior agreement with the Chair may result in a Board decision that the Trustee shall cease to hold office.

Person specification

Each trustee must have:

a commitment to the mission of TASO
a willingness to devote the necessary time and effort
strategic vision
good, independent judgement
an ability to think creatively
an understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship (further details can be found via the government website)
an ability to work effectively as a member of a team and to take decisions for the good of TASO.

How to apply

To apply, please send your CV and a completed application form (DOCX) to people@taso.org.uk with the title ‘Trustee application’ in the subject of the email.

Deadline for applications: Thursday 2 May, 09:00 BST

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