16 October, 2018

Featuring

Kris Christmann │Huddersfield University

Michelle Rogerson │Huddersfield University

Neil Monk │ Hate Crime Champion │Victim Support

Rose Simkins │Chief Executive │Stop Hate UK

Please see the attached flyer for details and how to book.

The Charity Commission has today published a statement of the results of its pre-inquiry and class inquiry work into “double defaulter” charities between April 2017 – March 2018.

Double defaulters are charities that have defaulted on their statutory obligations to meet reporting requirements by failing to file their annual documents for two or more times in the last five years.

The compliance work involved 80 charities and found that:

• Approximately £25 million of charity income relating to 56 charities has been accounted for as a result of the Commission’s pre inquiry and inquiry work during this period
• A further 24 charities were found to have ceased to exist or did not operate and were therefore removed from the register of charities
• The class inquiry also exercised statutory powers to freeze over £50,000 of unprotected charity funds
• Further enforcement action is being taken against 5 charities, which were part of the class inquiry during this period, as a result of additional regulatory concerns and/or pe.rsistent defaulting. These are each now subject to separate inquiries into their governance and activities

Harvey Grenville, Head of Investigations and Enforcement at the Charity Commission for England and Wales, said:

The public deserve to be able to understand how their donations are being spent, and see clearly that they go towards their intended causes.

This vital work has ensured compliance issues in over 50 charities have been addressed resulting in over £24 million of charity income now being accounted for. By exercising our powers to protect over £50,000 of charity funds at risk, we demonstrated the robust intervention the public would expect.

Trustees of registered charities with an annual income of over £25,000 are under a clear legal duty to ensure that their charity’s accounts and annual returns are submitted to us on time.

Too many trustees are still failing to file on time or properly notify us when a charity has been wound up. This report should serve as a reminder to other trustees that failure to comply with these duties is regarded as mismanagement by the Commission and can result in regulatory action against a charity or its trustees. Trustees who persistently breach this duty and are unwilling to mend their ways face the very real threat of removal or disqualification.

The full report is available on GOV.UK.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work see the about us page on GOV.UK.
2. Search for charities on our check charity tool.
3. Under the pre-inquiry stage, charities are issued with a final warning before being placed into the class inquiry. This final warning resulted in 28 charities making good on their default prior to the deadline specified in the final warning.

Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said:

Prison officers do vital and important work and we urge them to return to their duty stations, in line with their obligations to the law and the prison service.

It’s irresponsible for the POA to encourage their members to take this unlawful action. We are deploying our contingency plans but, by not turning up for work, these prison officers are putting their fellow staff and inmates at risk.

Yesterday we doubled the prison sentence for anyone who assaults prison officers. We’ve also increased pay, provided tools such as body-worn cameras to increase security on the landings, and are investing £40 million to improve the estate and tackle the drugs problem which is fuelling much of the violence. And we’ve now got 3,500 new officers to help ease the burden.

We are taking the action that needs to be taken.

• The Assaults on Emergency Workers Bill received Royal Assent this week which will increase the maximum sentence for assaults against prison officers to double from six to 12 months in prison.
• We are rolling out body worn cameras, ‘police-style’ handcuffs and restraints, and trialling PAVA incapacitant spray to ensure prison officers have the tools they need to do the job safely.
• In July we announced a £30 million investment including £16 million to improve conditions for prisoners and staff and £7 million on new security measures, including airport-security style scanners, improved searching techniques and phone-blocking technology. This also includes £1 million on a digital tool which assesses information from various law enforcement databases to create a central ‘risk rating’ for each prisoner.
• Also in July we announced a £9 million investment to clamp down on drugs supply and consumption at HMP Holme House, with a major emphasis on tackling addiction.
• In August we announced another £10 million would be invested in 10 difficult prisons to curb the flow of drugs and phones, while also improving conditions as those jails and improving leadership. This will tackle drug supply by enhancing physical security at the jails; with investment in drug-detection dogs, body scanners, and improved perimeter defences.
• We will seek an injunction to bring this action to an end.
• We absolutely refute the allegation that we did not follow all the normal procedures for informing the POA about the urgent Notification at HMP Bedford.