Charity regulator opens inquiry into Hospice Aid UK

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Hospice Aid UK (1092575).

In 2014 the charity was the subject of a statutory inquiry. During that inquiry the Commission issued the charity’s trustees with a formal action plan, which required them to carry out certain actions in order to improve the charity’s governance, to place it in a better financial position, and ensure its agreement with direct marketing agency, Euro DM, was transparent to the public. The report of that inquiry is available on GOV.UK.

A recent review of the charity’s 2018 accounts has raised a number of concerns which resulted in the opening of this new inquiry. The inquiry will look into:

• the proportion of the charity’s income that is applied for exclusively charitable purposes
• the adequacy of the fundraising arrangements and the extent to which these are monitored and managed by the trustees
• the extent to which the charity is solvent and financially viable
• the extent to which the trustees have complied with their legal duties and the advice, guidance and directions previously issued by the Commission
• the adequacy of the trustees’ policies and procedures in relation to the recruitment, appointment, monitoring and management of staff
• the extent to which potential conflicts of interest are identified and managed

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

Ends.

Notes to Editors

1. The inquiry opened on 20 September 2019.
2. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales; our role is to regulate charity trustees’ compliance with the charity law framework.