Our Trustees

All charities have to have Trustees.

The law says that the Trustees are in charge of a charity.

Trustees work together to make sure the charity does what it says it will do.

Trustees have different skills and experiences.

Trustees make sure the charity spends it's money on the right things.

Trustees make sure the charity writes a report each year.  

The report must talk about the work the charity did and how it spent it's money.

Our group of Trustees is called the Trustee board.

The people on the Trustee board are the chair and up to 13 Trustees.

At Mencap, you are a Trustee for 4 years.

After 4 years, you can choose if you want to be a Trustee for another 4 years.

After 8 years, you have to stop being a Trustee.

We have to have at least 1 Trustee with a learning disability .

At least half of our Trustees know a lot about learning disability.

Our Trustees ask the executive team to help them make sure Mencap runs well.  

The executive team are the people who are in charge of how Mencap works every day.

Lynne Peacock

Lynne Peacock has been our chair since January 2026.

Lynne has a lot of experience of working in charities and businesses.  She was the chair of Learning Disability Network London for nearly 10 years.   

Yogi Amin

Yogi has been a Trustee since November 2018. 

Yogi works at at Irwin Mitchell solicitors.  He knows a lot about human rights law, community care law and mental capacity law. 

Lucy Edge

Lucy has been a Trustee since November 2018. 

Lucy has worked for lots of years in satellite technology, using machines in space that look at the Earth and send useful information back.

She works for an organisation that tries to make it easier for people to make things work better or to come up with new ideas. 

Lucy has also worked on several Trustee boards.

Phil Hughes

Phil trained to be an accountant.  An accountant looks at information about money and helps people and organisations to make sure they look after and spend their money in the best way.

Catherine McDermott 

Catherine has helped a lot of businesses to make changes which make them better.

She has worked in healthcare and technology for the last 10 years.

Catherine works for a charity called Reframe.  Reframe helps people who have been told they have cancer.

Kathryn Rees

Kathryn has worked for Stockport and Wigan Councils.  She thinks it is important to make peoples lives and the areas they live in better.  She helped to change the way Wigan Council worked with the people living there.

Neil Hoskin

Neil has been a Trustee since October 2023.  

He has been with Hertsmere Mencap since 1998. He helps to make sure there are volunteers to drive members to their clubs and their homes.  He goes on the minibus to help the drivers.

Neil works for Hertfordshire County Council and makes easy read information for them.

Alan Gosschalk

Alan Gosschalk has been a Trustee since 2024.

He has worked at lots of charities and helped them to get money.  

Alan works for a charity which helps people who live in places where there are wars, lots of illness or emergencies.  The charity helps the people to get the medical help they need.

Nicola Gitsham

Nicola has worked for more than 30 years to try to make the lives of people with a learning disability and their families better.  She has been in charge of plans in England which have said that more people with a learning disability should have things like supported living and person centred plans.

Nicola has also been in charge of NHS England plans which make sure that all people get the health care they need.

Jackie Pollock

Jackie has been a Trustee since 2018.  She is the Trustee in charge of belonging and inclusion.

Jackie helps people to make sure they have the right computer programs to manage their staff.

Jackie chairs two local groups in Northern Ireland who are connected to Mencap: Carrickfergus Junior Gateway and Carrickfergus and District Mencap Society.