About TBF
TBF was established under a Declaration of Trust dated August 19, 1996, but later that year it took over from the former charity of the same name (which had previously been called the London Transport Benevolent Fund). That charity was established in 1923 but had its roots in a fund established in 1914 to help the dependants of those who fought in the First World War.
The first level of organization is the Local Committee, which appoints the Council, which in turn elects the Trustees. They control the charity and are responsible for the safe custody of the fund and its proper use to help beneficiaries. There can be any number of Trustees between six and fifteen (including the President, who is elected separately). At present there is near the maximum number. To help ensure that effective collective control is maintained it is our aim to reduce the number of Trustees, while maintaining a proper balance and reflecting the diversity of our membership.
The Trustees appoint a Director to manage the charity on their behalf, but the legal duty to protect the fund still rests with the Trustees. The Director in turn appoints other staff to help him run the charity on behalf of the Trustees.
The Trustees meet five times a year and between meetings delegate responsibilities such as making grants and providing other benefits to a sub-committee. There is provision to co-opt other Council members - to provide more expertise and develop possible future Trustees. Council members themselves are mostly appointed by Local Committees, but some are co-opted directly from those committees.
There are elections for the Trustees every three years. All members of the Council may nominate and elect Trustees and stand for election themselves. The President and Vice-President are elected from the other Trustees. In addition to the right to elect Trustees, members of Council are entitled to know of all important decisions made by the Trustees, see the accounts, agree changes to the Declaration of Trust or Rules, be heard by the Trustees and join in demanding a meeting of the Council (at which the Trustees may be asked to account for their actions). The Trustees cannot be removed, however, until the next election (which will always be within three years).
There are Local Committees to look after all working members but, where there are insufficient members willing to take on the role in an area, the Local Committee is administered by TBF staff. These staff cannot become Council members.
As well as appointing Council members to oversee the running of the TBF, Local Committees have the right to discuss all TBF matters and to consider requests for financial help from members within their areas.
Copies of the Declaration of Trust, Rules and latest accounts are available on this website. Where necessary, we are able to supply copies, but the right is reserved to charge for these where they are sought for commercial reasons.
Members of Local Committees (and therefore Council members and Trustees) must be members working within the public transport industry.
TBF is thus a democratic organization with Trustees who are accountable to the membership. This is the main reason we are different to many other organizations.