Piece Hall boss told councillors charity law meant she “had to” be a trustee. Five months on, she resigned as trustee but is still CEO.

The Trust now says there is “no ongoing business case” for the arrangement its chief executive told a Calderdale Council scrutiny committee could not be changed

Nicky Chance-Thompson last week stepped down as a trustee of the Piece Hall charity, the move contradicted an earlier stance that she had to be a CEO and trustee under Charity Law. She held the dual role for over nine years.

On June 30th the Piece Hall Trust published a statement on its website.

“As the result of recent best practice governance changes being made by The Piece Hall Trust, CEO of The Piece Hall Nicky Chance Thompson MBE DL resigned as a trustee on 25 June 2026. It is the view of Nicky and The Piece Hall Trust’s Board that there is no ongoing business case for the CEO to also be a trustee. Nicky’s role as CEO of The Piece Hall is unaffected.”

But this contradicts a statement made by Chance-Thompson when she told a Calderdale council scrutiny committee in January 2026 that she had no choice but to sit as a trustee as well as run the charity, that it was “something in charity law which we can’t change.” Companies House records that she ceased to be a trustee on 25 June 2026. She remains chief executive. She has held the dual role for over nine years.

What she told the scrutiny committee

Here is the audio of Nicky Chance-Thompson’s response when asked about why she held both a CEO and Trustee role at the charity

At the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 January 2026, a councillor put it to the Trust that keeping a volunteer board of trustees separate from the paid staff who run a charity day to day is a core safeguard, and asked why, at The Piece Hall, the chief executive was also a trustee , an arrangement which, the councillor said, “really undermines one of those really core safeguards.”

An adviser to the Trust answered first that the arrangement was “not that unusual.” The chief executive, Nicola Chance-Thompson, then told councillors, on the council’s own webcast: “in charity law if you’re a director making commercial decisions you also have to be a trustee.” She cited Opera North as a comparable case, said the Trust had “sought permission from the charity commission to do this,” and concluded: “So if I’m a director, I also have to be a trustee and unfortunately that’s something in charity law which we can’t change.”

A charity’s chief executive is not required by charity law to be a trustee.

We spoke to one legal expert who told us:

“Her proposition, that charity law compelled her to be a trustee because she makes day-to-day commercial decisions is wrong, or at the very least a confused overstatement.

A charity’s chief executive does not have to be a trustee. The orthodox model, the “core safeguard” the councillor was describing is precisely the opposite: the board of trustees governs and oversees, and a paid chief executive runs the operation as an employee under delegated authority. Most charity CEOs in the country are not trustees. Buying the potatoes and signing purchase orders is exactly the kind of delegated operational act an employed executive does without needing a seat on the board.”

Nicola Chance-Thompson is no longer a trustee of The Piece Hall Trust, according to Companies House, as of 25 June 2026, and remains its chief executive.

The Piece Hall Trust has been approached for comment.

Dan Sutherland, Leader of Calderdale Borough Council, told Calderdale Inside Out:

“It is deeply concerning that further information is coming to light that shows the Council was provided false information by the Piece Hall Trust and it’s Chief Executive. This was provided whilst negotiations were ongoing with the previous administration that led to the 5 year public subsidy deal. Many are questioning whether that deal agreed with Labour was based on a full and accurate picture of the situation.”

(This article has been updated since first publication)

Listen here for the full investigation

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