Decision

Charity inquiry: The Order of Friars Minor Conventual

Published 17 November 2025

Applies to England and Wales

The Charity

The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (‘the charity’) was registered with the Charity Commission (‘the Commission’) on 18 November 1966. It is governed by a trust deed dated 12 October 1966, amended by schemes dated 6 March 1970 and 28 September 2000.

The charity’s objects are such charitable purposes as shall advance the religious and other charitable works of the society as the trustees with the approval of the superior shall from time to time think fit.

The charity’s entry can be found on the Register of Charities

Background and Issues under Investigation

The charity was placed into the Commission’s Double Defaulter Class Inquiry (‘DDCI’) under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’) on 31 January 2023 as it failed to submit its annual accounts, annual returns and trustees’ annual reports (the ‘accounting information’) for the financial years ending (‘FYE’) 31 December 2020 and 2021. The DDCI is for those charities that are in default of their legal duty to file accounting information (the ‘accounting requirements’) for two or more years in the last five years.

On entering the DDCI an order under section 84 of the Act was issued directing the then trustees to submit all outstanding accounting information by 3 March 2023 and to review their procedures to ensure that they could comply fully with the accounting requirements. The then trustees failed to submit the accounting information by the deadline.

The inquiry continued to correspond with the charity. The then trustees repeatedly assured the Commission that the accounting information would be submitted by specified dates. Despite this, the accounting information remained outstanding. The charity then fell into further default for FYE 31 December 2022.

On 8 April 2024, the inquiry issued a further order under section 84 of the Act directing the current trustees to submit all outstanding accounting information by 31 July 2024. On 2 May 2024, the charity submitted one set of accounting information (for FYE 31 December 2020). On 9 May 2024, the charity was removed from the DDCI while the Commission monitored compliance with the rest of the section 84 order. However, the other two sets of accounting information remained outstanding at the deadline. The charity then fell into further default for FYE 31 December 2023.

On 20 November 2024, the Commission opened a separate statutory inquiry into the charity under section 46 of the Act. At the time of opening the statutory inquiry, the charity was in default of its accounting requirements for the FYE 31 December 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The scope of the inquiry was to examine the extent to which the trustees were complying with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity with particular regard to:

• their statutory accounting and reporting responsibilities and financial management
• the adequacy of the trustees’ oversight of the charity’s operation and activities

The inquiry closed with the publication of this report.

Findings

Accounting, reporting and financial management

The inquiry found that charity’s financial accounting processes required improvement. It found that the current trustees had a lack of oversight over the charity’s finances due to a lack of robust financial controls, inconsistent accounting processes across the charity and lack of personnel with the relevant skills and experience. The current trustees acknowledged the charity’s shortcomings and explained to the inquiry that they were taking action to improve accounting processes across the charity, including working with an accountancy firm to update the charity’s IT systems and provide training to everyone involved in preparing the accounts.

During the course of the inquiry, the current trustees submitted all outstanding accounting information. The charity’s accounting information for FYE 31 December 2021 was submitted in November 2024, 752 days late. Accounting information for FYE 31 December 2022 was submitted in January 2025, 451 days late and FYE 31 December 2023 was also submitted in January 2025, 90 days late. The charity is now up to date with the accounting requirements.

Trustees have a legal duty to prepare an annual return, trustees’ annual report and accounts and to transmit them to the Commission within 10 months of the end of the charity’s financial period, in accordance with sections 163, 164 and 169 of the Act. The inquiry found that the trustees had failed to do this. This is misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.

The trustees’ oversight of the charity’s operation and activities

Financial Controls

The inquiry found that the charity lacked a number of key policies and/or procedures, particularly in relation to the charity’s financial controls. However, during the inquiry, the trustees engaged a firm of charity consultants and are now implementing a plan directed towards ensuring compliance with their legal obligations and Commission guidance in the future. This includes reviewing their bank accounts and ensuring signatories and card holders are up to date, introducing annual budgeting at all levels of the charity, and introducing a finance manual and a finance committee made up of lay professionals. The current trustees also agreed to introduce management accounts as a standing item at trustee meetings and a cash management policy.

Asset Management

The inquiry found that two of the charity’s friaries were not registered with the Land Registry and the legal title to one of the friaries was being held in the name of former trustees. The current trustees are now working with the firm of charity consultants to address this and ensure property details are kept up to date. The trustees also agreed to introduce an asset management policy.

Governance and Trusteeship

The charity is part of a complex structure including an Irish charity and entities based in the United States and Rome involved in the wider Order of Friars Minor Conventual within the Catholic Church. The charity has their own governing document but must also comply with the constitution of the wider Order. In addition, the charity’s trustee board has overlapping meetings and membership with a group which oversees the local Order, called ‘the definitory’. Finally, the charity itself is spread across several different sites: managing five friaries in different locations in England.

The inquiry found that the current trustees’ knowledge and understanding of the charity’s governing document was limited, and that the charity lacked a policy on managing conflicts of interest. The trustees have agreed to carry out a governance review considering matters such as their induction procedures and the membership of the trustee board, as well as ensuring that they have appropriate procedures in place to manage any conflicts of interest which may arise, particularly when individuals hold roles in multiple entities in the wider structure. The trustees also agreed to review their governing document to ensure that it continues to meet the charity’s needs.  

Taken together, the failings by the trustees in relation to their oversight of the charity’s operations and activities outlined above amount to misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.

Safeguarding

The current trustees acknowledged that the charity’s past safeguarding procedures required improvement. The inquiry found that the trustees were working to improve their approach to safeguarding including reviewing the charity’s policy to ensure that any serious incidents are reported to the Commission, auditing their procedures and discussing safeguarding regularly during trustee meetings.

Conclusions

The Commission found that the trustees were responsible for misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity. However, the current trustees cooperated fully with the inquiry, accepting that the charity, historically, had not been governed to the standards the Commission expects and are acting proactively to identify and address any shortcomings. The Commission is satisfied with the steps the current trustees are taking to improve the governance and financial management of the charity. 

Regulatory action taken

The inquiry used information gathering powers under section 47 of the Act to direct the trustees and the charity accountant to provide information to the inquiry.

On 5 August 2025, the inquiry issued regulatory advice and guidance to the charity under section 15(2) of the Act so that the trustees could effectively discharge their duties to the charity going forward.

Issues for the wider sector  

The purpose of this section is to highlight the broader issues arising from the inquiry that may have relevance for other charities. It is not intended as further comment on the charity in addition to the findings and conclusions set out in the earlier sections of this report but is included because of their wider applicability and interest to the charity sector.

Trustees must ensure that their charity complies with charity law, and with the requirements of the Commission as regulator; in particular ensuring that the charity prepares annual reports and submits accurate and timely accounts as required by law. The Commission will not hesitate to exercise its statutory powers to ensure that a charity’s annual reports, annual accounts and annual returns are submitted to the Commission within the statutory deadlines where trustees persistently fail to comply with their legal duties.

Trustees must ensure that their charity has adequate financial and administrative controls in place, and that the funds of their charity are applied for the benefit of the public for which it has been set up. The Commission has produced guidance to assist trustees in implementing robust internal financial controls that are appropriate to their charity. The Commission’s guidance on Internal Financial Controls for Charities (CC8) is available on GOV.UK.

Trustees must avoid exposing the charity’s assets or reputation to undue risk. If a charity owns or rents land and buildings, trustees should make sure the property is recorded as belonging to the charity.

Every trustee should have an up-to-date copy of the charity’s governing document and regularly refer to it. Trustees may need to review it from time to time to ensure that it continues to meet the charity’s needs.