This one tends to arrive as a quiet private message rather than a question in a meeting, so it's worth saying out loud: if being publicly named as a trustee would put someone at risk, there is something you can do about it.

First, the bit people get wrong. None of this hides anyone from the regulator. The Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI and Companies House all still hold the full details, and still share them with the police and other public authorities where the law allows. The only question these applications answer is what the public can see. Withholding a name from a register is not the same as concealing who runs a charity, and no regulator treats it that way.

What's actually published: trustee names appear on the register in all four nations. In England and Wales they have since April 2020. In Scotland this is brand new — first and last names have appeared on the Scottish Charity Register since 9 March 2026, and accounts submitted from that date are published in full without redactions, so if your accounts carry trustee names or signatures that may expose more than the register entry does. Northern Ireland publishes names unless there are significant reasons not to. And if your charity is a company, trustees appear at Companies House as directors too.

Now the two fixes that cost nothing, and that most boards miss. First, your service address at Companies House: an enormous number of charity directors put their home address in when the company was set up, often years ago and without realising there was a choice. You can change it to the charity's address at any time, free, and it needs nobody's permission. Second, the charity's own registered address — published on all three charity registers, and in small charities routinely the chair's or the treasurer's house. Also free to change. Between them these two solve the real problem for most people, so do them before spending money on anything else.

If someone genuinely is at risk, the charity regulators will withhold a name and it costs nothing to ask. The Charity Commission's test is whether publication could put the person in personal physical or mental danger; you apply by emailing [email protected] with the charity details and real evidence. OSCR's test is whether publication is likely to jeopardise the safety and security of a person or premises, applied for through OSCR Online — and there's one step it's easy to miss, which is that nothing is held back while they consider it unless you flag in OSCR Online that an exemption is being applied for. Companies House has its own separate applications, but those are £100 each and share a much higher bar: serious risk of violence or intimidation.

The practical thing for a board is to ask the question properly. Not "does anyone want privacy", which gets a shrug, but "is there anyone here for whom being publicly named would be a safety issue?" People won't always volunteer it, and a trustee who has left an abusive relationship shouldn't have to raise it cold. And if you do act on it, minute the decision, not the circumstances.

Happy to answer questions below, or by message if that's easier. I've written the whole thing up in plain English, four nations and Companies House, free to read at thecommitteeroom.co.uk.

Rachel Wall ACG — chartered governance professional