A potential glass ceiling in charity governance, where women and people from BME communities find it harder to become trustees of the largest charities, has been identified by NCVO.

The BoardsCount benchmarking survey, part-funded by the Governance Hub and launched by NCVO, has found that within smaller organisations women account for 45% of the board. But this figure drops to just 29% for larger charities.

The survey also revealed that within smaller charities and voluntary groups, BME trustees make up 12% of the board, but only 7% for the largest third sector organisations.

A total of 60% of the respondents to the survey said they felt their boards failed to adequately meet the needs of their existing board members, while 48% said there was a gap in the representation of disabled people on boards, and 32% believed there should be a better gender balance.

The Governance Hub is now calling on boards to review their performance to address these issues. It suggests that adopting key performance indicators could ensure a balanced board.

Anne Moynihan, head of the Governance Hub, said the survey would help all voluntary organisations to compare their governance with others of the same size and within the same sub-sectors, and to set targets for improvements in their own governance practice.