Decision

Charity Inquiry: double defaulter charities between April 2024 and March 2025

Published 13 August 2025

Applies to England and Wales

Background

All registered charities must provide information annually to the Charity Commission (‘the Commission’). The rules vary according to the charity’s size and structure. Registered charities with:

• income up to £10,000 should complete the relevant sections (income and expenditure) of the annual return
• income above £10,000, and all Charitable Incorporated Organisations (‘CIOs’), must prepare and file an annual return
• income above £25,000, and all CIOs, must also file copies of their trustees’ annual report and accounts

For further information see the Commission’s online guidance on preparing an annual return.

There is public interest in the issue of charities’ non-submission of annual returns, reports and accounts (‘annual documents’), particularly where the non-compliance is over a long period of time. As a result, the Commission opened a statutory class inquiry (‘the inquiry’) under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 (the ‘Act’) into charities that were in default of their statutory obligations to meet reporting requirements by failing to file their annual documents for two or more years in the last five years and met certain criteria, including that:

• the charities were recently (or in the case of charities that would become part of it in due course, would be) given final warnings to comply by a specified date
• on the first working day after the specified date the charities were still in default (partially or otherwise)

The inquiry periodically identifies and brings charities into it that meet the criteria and have a last known annual income over a certain threshold to ensure the inquiry’s strategy continued to be risk-based and proportionate.

Pre-inquiry stage

Work carried out at the pre-inquiry stage by the Commission includes issuing a final warning to charities that they will be placed into the inquiry if they fail to submit outstanding annual documents by a specified date. Following receipt of the final warning, a number of charities proceeded to submit their outstanding annual documents within the Commission’s deadline. The impact of the Commission’s work at the pre-inquiry stage during the reporting period was that over £18 million of charitable income in respect of 28 charities is now accounted for.

Issues under inquiry

The inquiry is confined to dealing with the charity trustees’ misconduct and/or mismanagement and remedying the non-compliance in connection with their failure to submit the required annual documents to the Commission within the statutory deadlines.

Findings

During the inquiry period (April 2024 – March 2025):

• 36 charities, listed in Annex A, submitted their outstanding annual documents, and continue to operate as charities. This resulted in £28,917,154 million of charitable income being accounted for
• 2 charities, listed in Annex B, were found to have ceased to exist or do not operate and were therefore either removed, or in the process of being removed, from the register of charities (‘the register’)
• 8 charities under the class inquiry were referred to separate inquiry during the reporting period

More details about the charities listed in Annex A and B are available on the register of charities.

Any regulatory issues arising from the inquiry’s scrutiny of the annual documents received have been followed up with the respective charities separately.

Charities identified with serious regulatory concerns

Where the class inquiry identifies additional serious regulatory concerns, these are referred for further consideration and investigation under a separate statutory inquiry. The eight charities that were referred to separate inquiry during the reporting period are as follows:

Streets Ahead for Information - 1174369

Following submission of the charity’s overdue accounting documents for the financial years ending 23 August 2020 and 2021, the Commission identified concerns regarding the trustees’ management of conflicts of interest and payments to connected parties.

See the press release published on 24 May 2024 for further information.

Flic-Flac Gymnastics Club - 1114161

The Commission identified financial and governance concerns regarding the operations of the charity.

See the press release published on 3 September 2024 for further information.

Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living Limited – 1072345

The charity has been persistently late in filing its accounting documents for five consecutive financial years. The Commission also identified serious concerns regarding its general management and governance.

See the press release  published on 18 October 2024 for further information.

Gifting Humanity - 1170479

The charity has been persistently late in filing its accounting documents for five consecutive financial years, and also failed to comply with a Commission Order instructing it to file all outstanding financial documents.

See the press release  published on 12 November 2024 for further information.

The Order of Friars Minor Conventua - 249881

The charity has been persistently late in filing its accounting documents on time for four consecutive financial periods.

See the press release published on 12 December 2024 for further information

Walsall Wood Community Football Club - 1137978

The charity has been persistently late in filing its accounting documents for five consecutive financial years, and failed to provide sufficient financial information in previous financial years’ accounts for 30 June 2020, 2021, and 2022.

See the press release  published on 20 February 2025 for further information.

Plymouth Islamic Education Trust (PIETY) - 1134986

The charity has been persistently late in filing its accounting documents for five consecutive financial years. Despite significant regulatory engagement by the Commission, the trustees have consistently demonstrated that they were either unwilling or unable to comply with their legal duties. 

See the press release  published on 17 April 2025 for further information.

The C J M Charitable Trust - 802325

The charity has been persistently late in filing its accounting documents for three consecutive financial years. The trustees have consistently demonstrated that they were either unwilling or unable to comply with their legal duties. 

See the press release  published on 16 May 2025 for further information

Conclusions

The trustees of the charities, listed in Annex A and B, were in default of their legal obligations to file their annual documents and keep their registered details up to date. The Commission regards this as misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charities.

As a result of its pre-inquiry and inquiry work during the reporting period, the Commission ensured that those charities that continue to operate complied with their legal obligations to submit their annual documents. In total, a further £47,635,804 million of charitable income is now accounted for (£18,718,650 at the pre-inquiry stage and £28,917,154 at the inquiry stage).

The Commission also arranged for one charity to be removed from the register, and provided appropriate guidance regarding closing a charity for another charity, which it considered had ceased to exist or did not operate.

Charities ceased to be part of the inquiry when they were no longer in default of their accounting obligations and filed the missing annual documents; or the Commission was satisfied that they had ceased to exist or do not operate; or other concerns were identified, and those charities were considered for further investigation.

Regulatory action taken

The inquiry used the Commission’s information gathering powers under section 47 of the Act 78 times to obtain bank records and financial information of the charities relating to the years with missing annual documents. These were used in connection with the inquiry’s examination of the annual documents.

The inquiry exercised powers under section 84 of the Act 130 times to direct the trustees to prepare and complete the missing relevant annual documents for the charities and provide copies of these to the Commission.

The Commission provided regulatory advice and guidance about the trustees’ duty to file the charities’ annual documents, as well as supplemental advice and guidance as and when appropriate.

Issues for the wider sector

Failure to submit the annual documents to the Commission may be a criminal offence. The Commission also regards it as misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.

Providing timely, accurate and informative financial information that will help funders, donors, beneficiaries, and others to understand the charity and its work, will encourage trust and confidence in it.

Annex A

The following 36 charities submitted their outstanding annual documents and continue to operate as charities:

Walworth Methodist Church – 1129441

Bude and Holsworthy Methodist Circuit – 1129530

Q+ - 1169817

Al Badr Islamic Trust – 1045362

Peter Storrs Trust – 313804

Willesden Green Baptist Church – 1135448

Al-Jamiatul Islamiyah Darul Uloom Lancashire U.K – 1038679

Keren Chasodim Ltd – 1143585

Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust Charity – 1103407

Odin Charitable Trust – 1027521

Southwark Carers – 1085300

Young Men’s Christian Association, Port Talbot Branch – 251249

God’s Vision Church – 1084401

Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) Officers’ Mess – 1129968

The British Neuropathological Society – 286363

The Red Balloon Family Foundation – 1158982

Tipton Community Association Limited – 1162716

Hastings and St Leonards Foreshore Charitable Trust – 1105649

Rugby Mosque Society – 503021

Admaston House Community Centre Trust – 1078231

Aapg – Europe – 1126290

The Kamini and Vindi Banga Family Trust – 1171409

The Grumitt Charitable Trust – 529912

The David and Marie Grumitt Foundation – 288826

Guildford Sports Ground – 305056

The United Euro Bridge Limited – 1116222

Jain Samaj Europe – 507899

Alderson Disabled Ex-Service Men’s Homes Trust – 216803

Tower Hamlets And Canary Wharf Further Education Trust – 1002772

City Church Leeds Trust – 701442

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Mark St Marylebone (Hamilton Terrace) – 1155602

The Toler Foundation – 1002268

Maahadus Shuhada Trust – 1091265

Puddleducks Under Fives – 1037296

The Opportunity Group – 294106

Handsworth Day Care Centre – 500831

Annex B

The following 2 charities were found to have ceased operating and were therefore removed, or in the process of being removed from the register.

Meals on Wheels (Stoke on Trent) – 218791 (in the process of being removed from the register)

Thanet Community Transport Association – 1100715 (removed from the register)