Decision

Great Yarmouth Schools and Business Partnership Ltd

Published 19 May 2017

This decision was withdrawn on 15 October 2019

This inquiry report has been archived because it is over 2 years old.

Applies to England and Wales

A statement of the results of the class inquiry into double defaulter charities in particular Great Yarmouth Schools and Business Partnership Limited (registered charity number 1122200) (‘the charity’).

Published on 19 May 2017.

The class inquiry

On 20 September 2013, the Charity Commission (‘the Commission ’) opened a statutory class inquiry (‘the inquiry’) into charities that were in default of their statutory obligations to meet reporting requirements by failing to file their annual documents for 2 or more years in the last 5 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 day after the specified date they were still in default (partially or otherwise)

At the point a charity met the criteria they would become part of the inquiry. Charities that have been identified for inclusion in the class inquiry have a last known annual income of at least £150,000.

The charity

Great Yarmouth Schools and Business Partnership Limited was registered on 7 January 2008. It is a charitable company governed by a memorandum and articles of association incorporated 21 January 2005.

The charity’s object is to advance education, in particular by providing and assisting with the provision of additional and new learning opportunities for the benefit of all learners within the Great Yarmouth Borough Council area.

More details about the charity are available on the register of charities (‘the register’).

Issues under investigation

The charity had failed to submit its annual accounts, reports and annual returns to the Commission for the financial years ending 31 January 2015 and 2016 within the statutory deadlines. Although reminders were sent the charity remained in default of its obligations under the Charities Act 2011 (‘the act’).

In addition, a final warning letter was issued on 30 January 2017 requesting that the missing documents be provided by 14 February 2017, and warning the charity that if it remained in default it would become part of the inquiry. The charity became part of the inquiry on 15 February 2017 because it failed to supply the outstanding annual accounting information by the deadline.

The inquiry is confined to dealing with the trustees’ mismanagement and misconduct ^{[footnote 1]} and remedying the non-compliance in connection with the annual accounting documents.

The outstanding accounting documents were submitted in March 2017.

A charity trustee informed the Commission that the reason for the delay was a lack of knowledge of their duty to submit the accounting documents. This does not excuse the failure of the trustees to fulfil their statutory obligations.

When the charity’s missing documents were submitted, the accounts were referred for scrutiny by the Commission’s accountants. Any issues arising from that scrutiny will be followed up separately.

Conclusions

The charity’s trustees were in default of their legal obligations to file accounting information with the Commission. This was mismanagement and misconduct in the administration of the charity and a breach of their legal duties.

As a result of the inquiry, the Commission ensured the charity complied with its legal obligations to submit their annual accounting information. Two sets of accounts were filed and as a result £1,126,550 of charitable income is now transparently and publicly accounted for on the register.

The charity ceased to be part of the inquiry when it was no longer in default of its accounting obligations. This happened on 21 March 2017 when the charity filed the last missing documents.

Regulatory action taken

The Commission used its information gathering powers under section 52 of the act to order and obtain bank records and financial information of the charity relating to the missing years accounts. These will be used in connection with the Commission’s scrutiny of the accounts.

The inquiry exercised powers under section 84 of the act to direct the trustees to carry the following:

• to prepare and complete the relevant missing annual accounts, reports and returns for the charity and provide copies of these to the Commission

• to review their procedures and practices and implement necessary changes to ensure that they fully complied with their statutory responsibilities for the preparation and submission of the charity’s annual accounts, reports, and annual returns

• to provide written details to the Commission of the measures taken by the trustees regarding the review

The Commission provided regulatory advice and guidance about the trustees’ duty to file the charity’s annual accounting information.

Issues for the wider sector

Trustees of charities with an income of over £25,000 are under a legal duty as charity trustees to submit annual returns, annual reports and accounting documents to the Commission as the regulator of charities. Even if the charity’s annual income is not greater than £25,000 trustees are under a legal duty to prepare annual accounts and reports and should be able to provide these on request. All charities with an income over £10,000 must submit an annual return.

Failure to submit accounts and accompanying documents to the Commission is a criminal offence. The Commission also regards it as mismanagement and misconduct in the administration of the charity.

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.

1. The terms misconduct and mismanagement are taken from section 76 of the act. Misconduct includes any act (or failure to act) in the administration of the charity which the person committing it knew (or ought to have known) was criminal, unlawful or improper. Mismanagement includes any act (or failure to act) in the administration of the charity that may result in significant charitable resources being misused or the people who benefit from the charity being put at risk. A charity’s reputation may be regarded as property of the charity. ↩