Press release: New charity investigation: NSA Afan (Community Regeneration)

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a statutory inquiry into NSA Afan (Community Regeneration) registered charity number 1088934. The inquiry was opened on 23 February 2017.

The charity has objects to promote the regeneration of the local area, the provision of education and training and the relief of poverty.

In May 2016 the charity reported a serious incident to the Commission outlining that there had been a theft at the charity, with £90,000 of the charity’s funds unaccounted for. The Commission immediately opened a case to monitor the charity’s response, the matter was then referred by the charity to Action Fraud and the police.

The Commission has also been liaising closely with the Welsh Government (a major funder of the charity) who have expressed concerns about the governance of the charity.

The Commission has serious concerns about the charity’s governance and internal controls and the apparent failure of the trustees to remedy these issues, placing the charity’s property and its operations at risk. In view of this the Commission opened a statutory inquiry in February 2017.

The inquiry will examine:

  • the financial controls, management and application of charitable funds, property and assets belonging to the charity
  • the governance, management and administration of the charity by the trustees, particularly whether the trustees have acted prudently and exercised reasonable care in respect of the day-to-day running of the charity
  • whether the charity’s decision making process is adequate, in particular how it has managed conflicts of interests

The Commission stresses that opening an inquiry is not in itself a finding of wrong doing. The purpose of an inquiry to examine issues in detail and investigate and establish the facts so that the regulator can ascertain whether there has been misconduct and mismanagement; establish the extent of the risk to the charity’s property, beneficiaries or work; decide what action needs to be taken to resolve the serious concerns, if necessary using its investigative, protective and remedial powers to do so.

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.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

Ends

PR 52/17

Notes to editors

  1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
  2. Search for charities on our online register.
  3. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the Commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.
  4. The Commission’s decision to announce the opening of a statutory inquiry is based on whether it is in the public interest to do so and with consideration of our objective to increase public trust and confidence in charities.