Guidance

Raising a concern with the Charity Commission (CC47)

Updated 9 June 2025

Applies to England and Wales

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland

1. Who we are

We are the regulator of charities in England and Wales and maintain the charity register. There are just over 170,000 charities on the register, and in the financial year 2024-25 we regulated £101 billion of charity income and £100 billion of charity spend ^{[footnote 1]}.

We are an independent, non-ministerial government department accountable to Parliament. We aim to be an expert Commission that is fair, balanced and independent.

We prioritise our work to help us make the best use of our resources and ensure proportionate regulation of a volunteer led sector. We prioritise dealing with concerns which may cause the greatest impact or harm to charities and public trust and confidence in charities.

As a public body, we must also take into account best regulatory practice and a number of wider public law and statutory duties. 

2. What we do 

Our objective (set out in law) is to make sure that charities are accountable, well run and meet their legal obligations, so that the public can be confident about giving their support to charities.

We do this by: 

• registering charities and making sure the information on the register of charities is up to date and accurate. We also remove charities that no longer exist or do not operate 
• highlighting those charities on the register that do not meet their annual reporting requirements  
• publishing guidance for trustees on our website 
• issuing advice, guidance and action plans to trustees 
• giving permissions to allow trustees to do something they don’t have the power to do. For example, giving trustees who need it permission to sell charity land 
• investigating and/or monitoring charities where we have identified or investigated concerns 
• using our legal powers to gather information, conduct inquiries, protect charity property and take action to address wrongdoing and harm – including disqualifying trustees or issuing an official warning 
• in certain circumstances recovering funds that have been misappropriated or lost to charity because the trustees have not complied with their legal duties   
• issuing alerts to charities about particular risks and what they can do in response  
• publishing reports on inquiries or other cases 

To help us effectively regulate the charity sector in England and Wales we work with other agencies, regulators and government departments. 

3. Concerns you should raise with the Commission 

If you have a concern, read this list to check if you should raise it with us. You should also check if your concern is not for the Commission. Some concerns are for other organisations. 

You should always raise concerns about any of the following with us:  

• a charity not following the law, which significantly damages its reputation and public trust in charities generally 
• serious harm to the people the charity helps or other people who come into contact with the charity through its work 
• charities being used for significant private advantage 
• a charity set up for illegal or improper purposes, for example to avoid paying tax 
• a charity losing significant amounts of money 
• a charity losing significant assets, for example land or buildings 
• criminal, illegal or terrorist activity 

You should also report allegations of criminal activity to the police and concerns about taxation to HMRC. Our role in these types of cases is to consider whether there has been misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity. We may also need to use our powers to protect charity property. 

If you have a concern that meets the above criteria, read about how to tell us. 

If you work or volunteer for a charity you can blow the whistle about serious wrongdoing in your charity to us.   

4. What we don’t do 

Check if the Commission is the right organisation for your concern.  

There is a wide range of things we can do as a regulator, but there are limits to our role:  

• we cannot prosecute, although we may ask others to prosecute offences  
• we usually cannot tell trustees what decisions to make, and we cannot overturn trustees’ decisions if they are lawful, even if these decisions are unpopular. Trustees will usually have a range of options and it is not for us to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of those options 
• we cannot determine who the trustees of a charity are
• we do not act as a complaints service looking at all complaints on behalf of complainants  
• we are not the lead regulator on fundraising – the Fundraising Regulator regulates all types of fundraising by charities based in England, Wales and Northern Ireland 
• where safeguarding is concerned: 
  • we do not investigate individual allegations of abuse, decide whether any allegations are true or bring safeguarding prosecutions
  • we focus on the actions trustees have taken, such as whether they have ensured the charity has the correct safeguarding policies and procedures in place

If you have a safeguarding concern which involves criminal behaviour you should report it to the police. Follow our guidance on reporting to the police. There are other organisations you may also need to report to, for example the local social services. 

Find out how to report safeguarding concerns.

In practice this means we will not normally take forward the following sorts of concerns: 

• where you disagree with decisions made by the trustees and they have made those decisions within the law and the provisions of the charity’s governing document 
• instances of poor service from a charity  
• disagreement about the terms or delivery of a contract, or about employment issues 
• resolving internal disagreements or disputes where there are properly appointed trustees in post who are acting within the law (it is the responsibility of trustees to resolve these issues) 
• where the issue does not pose a serious risk to the charity, its assets or beneficiaries 

For example, a charity’s AGM should have been held in October but was delayed by a month. The delay is due to trustee illness and there are no other concerns about the AGM or decisions made at the meeting. Although this does not meet the requirements set out in the charity’s governing document, this has not caused any problems for the charity or its beneficiaries.  

• where the issue is for another regulator  
• where legal proceedings are being taken against a charity  

If you have a concern about issues like these, you should raise them with the charity’s trustees. This gives them the opportunity to explain or to put things right if something has gone wrong. The trustees are the people who lead the charity and decide how it is run. They may be referred to by different terms. Some examples are:  

• management committee members 
• directors  
• governors 
• managing trustees 

There are other organisations that may also be able to help with these sorts of concerns.  

5. How we prioritise our work

We focus on dealing with concerns which may cause the greatest impact or harm to charities and public trust and confidence in charities. 

To help make this assessment, we will look at how the trustees have responded to the concerns. For example: 

• whether the trustees have met their legal duties to act honestly and reasonably, and solely in the charity’s best interests  
• what action trustees have taken or propose to take to deal with the issue, including whether they have prioritised the needs of the charity’s beneficiaries as a whole 

The regulatory action we take will be proportionate to how serious the impact or harm is. For example, we may provide the trustees with advice and guidance or an action plan as a first step and monitor the charity’s progress.  

If these actions do not resolve the issue, or in cases where there is the most serious impact or harm, we can use our protective powers. For example, our powers to freeze bank accounts, appoint interim managers to a charity or disqualify trustees. 

We are unable to take forward every concern about a charity. Where we assess that a concern will likely have a low impact on a charity, we will not take it forward, but we will still keep a record of it. 

We will tell you if we take up your concern. If you ask us to, we will let you know the outcome when we have finished the case. Cases vary, and some can take a long time to complete, so you may not hear from us for some time. We are unable to provide updates on our work during a case as disclosing details could prejudice the charity or make it harder for us to take action.

6. How you can raise a concern about a charity with us 

First check that your concern meets the criteria set out above and is not for another organisation.

You can raise your concern by completing this form and by providing the following information.  

• your concern and why it is a serious issue
• whether you have contacted the charity and the outcome. If you haven’t, tell us why you haven’t  
• whether you have raised the issues before with the Charity Commission or another organisation or regulator, and the outcome
• whether there are any legal proceedings. 

Try not to give us personal data about you or other people. Only include it if it is essential to reporting your concern. For example, say ‘an individual has stolen from the charity’ instead of ‘Joe Bloggs has stolen from the charity’. Please do not send us any sensitive personal data, such as medical records. 

It is important to provide relevant evidence to support your concern.  

You can upload PDF documents of evidence in the raising concern about a charity form (up to 10MB). If you have evidence that you cannot send as a PDF, please explain what evidence you have and in what format. 

Your evidence will depend on the nature of your concerns. Examples of evidence include (but are not restricted to): 

• copies of relevant financial information such as bank or credit card statements, or pre-signed blank cheques 
• copies of relevant documents, policies or procedures 
• internal complaints or reports from other agencies  
• copies of any legal or professional advice  
• media reporting affecting the charity’s name 

We will do everything we can to ensure that your identity is not revealed without your consent. However, the allegations or evidence may indicate who has raised them and, in some cases, we may be required to share information by law. 

6.1 Other ways to share concerns 

If you are a charity trustee, you may need to report your concern to us as a serious incident. For more information read serious incidents and how to report them. 

If you work or volunteer for a charity you can blow the whistle about serious wrongdoing in your charity to us. Find out how to report wrongdoing as a worker or volunteer, including what sort of problems you can tell us about.

Auditors and independent examiners of charity accounts have a legal duty to report certain matters to us. These are known as matters of material significance. Read about reporting matters of material significance. 

7. Other organisations that can help 

If a concern involves actual or alleged criminal activity then you must report it to the police and other relevant agencies. If you are a charity trustee you may also need to report the concern to us as a serious incident. For more information read serious incidents and how to report them.  

Read this list for other types of concerns.

Advertising

Contact the Advertising Standards Authority to complain about: 

• an advertising campaign you think is offensive, deceptive or inaccurate 
• the amount of emails or mail you get from a charity 

Community Interest Companies (CICs)

CICs are not charities. If you have a concern about a CIC you should contact the CIC Regulator.  

Employment disputes

Contact Acas for:  

• impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practice 
• help with employment disputes 

Exempt charities

Some types of charities, for example academy schools, registered providers of social housing and some universities have a different regulator (known as a principal regulator) which has primary responsibility for regulating them. You should contact the principal regulator first if you have a query or concern about these types of charities. Read about exempt charities and their principal regulators.  

Fraud

Report suspected and actual fraud using the Action Fraud online reporting service or call 0300 123 2040 

Fundraising

Contact the Fundraising Regulator to complain about: 

• the way you or someone you know have been asked for donations 
• how fundraisers have behaved 

You can change how often you get emails, phone calls, texts or post from a charity using the Fundraising Preference Service. 

Personal data

Report complaints about the use of personal data by a charity to the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you are a charity trustee and your complaint is about a serious data breach or loss by a charity of personal information you should also report to us as a serious incident. 

Safeguarding

Find out how to report safeguarding concerns.  

Taxation

You should report concerns about taxation to HMRC. 

Terrorist activity

If you have information about possible terrorist activity connected to a charity you should report it to the Anti-terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321. 

1. As of March 2025. See the sector overview for current figures. ↩