Whistleblowing disclosures made to the Charity Commission for England and Wales 2021 to 2022
Published 29 September 2022
Applies to England and Wales
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1. The statutory framework
The Charity Commission is a ‘prescribed person’ under the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons Order) 2014, making it the regulatory body for appropriate disclosures on matters relating to ‘the proper administration of charities and funds given, or held, for charitable purposes’.
Whistleblowing law is located in the Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998). This provides the statutory framework for employment protections for workers who make a qualifying disclosure (or ‘blow the whistle’) to us about suspected wrongdoing in charities, including crimes and regulatory breaches by their employer.
2. Our functions, objectives and powers
The Charity Commission is the registrar and regulator of charities in England and Wales. Parliament has given us 5 statutory objectives which are to:
- promote compliance by charity trustees with their legal obligations in exercising control and management of their charities
- enhance the accountability of charities to donors, beneficiaries and the general public
- increase public trust and confidence in charities
- promote awareness and understanding of the operation of the public benefit requirement
- promote effective use of charitable resources
Our Risk and Regulatory Framework explains our functions and powers.
3. Our approach to whistleblowing disclosures
Whistleblowing disclosures help us to detect serious problems such as fraud, safeguarding concerns and mismanagement in charities. Whistleblowing therefore plays a valuable role in our regulation of the charity sector. We continue to review and improve our approach to encouraging, receiving and handling disclosures.
In doing so, we take account of Whistleblowing: prescribed persons guidance from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the approach taken by other prescribed persons, specialist guidance and our own experience.
We are likely to treat charity workers and volunteers (including trustees) who raise serious concerns with us about their charity as whistle-blowers. Their role within a charity can mean they are well placed to identify and report serious problems.
While volunteers do not have any statutory protections if they report serious concerns to us (unlike workers), we recognise that in other respects they face many of the personal challenges and risks experienced by workers and therefore may require the same sort of engagement from us.
We assess disclosures in line with the regulatory approach set out in our Regulatory and Risk Framework.
This helps ensure that the Commission’s regulatory engagement with charities is proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent and targeted as required by the Charities Act 2011.
While the framework is written for the wider public, it may also be useful for charity workers and volunteers when considering whistleblowing disclosures to the Commission.
When we receive a whistleblowing disclosure, our assessment depends on what we are told and the severity of the matter. We consider the information disclosed to us, then decide and prioritise what action, if any, to take according to the nature and level of risk.
4. Whistleblowing facts and figures 2021 to 2022
We received 281 whistleblowing disclosures in 2021 to 2022 [footnote 1]. This is the second highest in volume within the last six years but represents a decrease of 150 in the number of disclosures compared to the previous year, as shown below:
| Year | Total | % increase/decrease year on year |
|---|---|---|
| 2021/2022 | 281 | -34.81% |
| 2020/2021 | 431 | 74.49% |
| 2019/2020 | 247 | 33.5% |
| 2018/2019 | 185 | 83.2% |
| 2017/2018 | 101 | 14.8% |
| 2016/2017 | 88 | 1.1% |
| 2015/2016 | 87 | 0% |
Key findings from 2021 to 2022 disclosures:
- the majority of disclosures are from employees
- the primary issues raised were governance, safeguarding or financial management concerns
- there has been a 35% decrease in the number of disclosures compared to the previous reporting period, however numbers remain above the recent average
In the previous reporting period, 2020-2021, we saw a 75% increase in whistleblowing disclosures, with a total of 431 reports. This may have been driven by the uncertainties and financial challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as our improved approach to handling whistleblowing disclosures.
We consider that the 35% decrease in the number of disclosures in the latest reporting period could be as a result of some of the challenges associated with Covid-19 being less pronounced.
4.1 Source of whistleblowing disclosures
We continue to receive the majority of disclosures from employees (147, 52.3%), which includes current employees and ex-employees. The remaining disclosures are received from non-employees (134, 47.7%), which includes volunteers, ex-volunteers, ex-trustees and trustees. Last year, 50.8% of disclosures were from employees and 49.2% were from non-employees.
| Source of Disclosure | Number |
|---|---|
| Employee | 80 |
| Ex-Employee | 67 |
| Trustee | 42 |
| Volunteer | 34 |
| Ex-Trustee | 19 |
| Ex-Volunteer | 14 |
| Member | 7 |
| Anonymous | 6 |
| Public | 4 |
| Other Source | 8 |
4.2 Charity classification
Each registered charity has a particular classification code to identify its purpose. Where a charity has more than one classification, the primary classification is used to identify what the charity does, who it helps and how it operates. The charities we received disclosures about varied across 34 different classifications.
Charity classifications and the number of disclosures are detailed below:
| What the charity does | Total |
|---|---|
| Education/Training | 124 |
| General Charitable Purpose | 75 |
| The Advancement of Health and Saving Live | 61 |
| Disability | 51 |
| The Prevention of the Relief of Poverty | 51 |
| Environment/Conservation/Heritage | 43 |
| Religious Activities | 42 |
| Economic/Community Development/Employment | 40 |
| Arts/Culture/Heritage/Science | 35 |
| Accommodation/Housing | 26 |
| Other Charitable Purposes | 25 |
| Amateur Sport | 23 |
| Overseas Aid/Famine Relief | 20 |
| Recreation | 20 |
| Animals | 13 |
| Human Rights/Religious or Racial Harmony/Equality or Diversity | 13 |
| Armed Forces/Emergency Service Efficiency | 1 |
Who the charity helps and the number of disclosures made are detailed below:
| Who the charity helps | Total |
|---|---|
| The general public/mankind | 124 |
| Children/young people | 108 |
| Elderly/old people | 80 |
| People with disabilities | 76 |
| Other defined groups | 52 |
| Other charities or voluntary bodies | 48 |
| People of a particular ethnic or racial origin | 25 |
How the charity operates and the number of disclosures made are detailed below:
| How the charity operates | Total |
|---|---|
| Provides services | 148 |
| Provides advocacy/advice/information | 133 |
| Provides buildings/facilities/open space | 91 |
| Provides Human Resources | 54 |
| Other charitable activities | 46 |
| Sponsors or undertakes research | 45 |
| Acts as an umbrella or resource body | 38 |
| Makes grants to organisations | 38 |
| Makes grants to individuals | 37 |
| Provides other finance | 15 |
As more than one classification can be used by a charity the numbers shown in these tables will be larger than the overall number of the 281 individual disclosures received.
4.3 Type of issues raised
When we open a case following a disclosure, we record the type of issue raised with us. The top three reported issues in 2021 to 2022 are governance failures, safeguarding and protecting people, and financial harms. Please note, where disclosures include more than one type of issue, we base the type of issue on the primary issue reported.
The predominance of these three types of issue follows a similar pattern to previous reporting over the last six years.
Similar to the last two years, governance is the most prominent type of reported issue. However, we have seen a decline in reporting for various types of issues in the last year. Reports regarding safeguarding have seen a slight decrease in the last year, reducing to 90 this year compared to 122 last year. Additionally, reports regarding financial harms have dropped to 50 this year compared to 121 last year, which may in part reflect the evolution of the pandemic as described earlier.
| Type of Issue | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governance Failures | 57 | 60 | 72 | 109 | 141 | 112 |
| Safeguarding and Protecting People | 15 | 24 | 89 | 72 | 122 | 90 |
| Financial Harms | 11 | 8 | 18 | 46 | 121 | 50 |
Safeguarding and governance issues cover a wide range of situations and are often linked: for example, governance issues can be significant contributory factors to safeguarding incidents, most specifically when the safeguarding issue concerns a risk to beneficiaries.
The other types of issue raised in 2021 to 2022 include: disputes (11), conflicts of interest (6), reputational damage (6), and GDPR breach (1).
The top three types of issues reported by employees and ex-employees are:
| Nature of Issue | Employee | Ex-Employee |
|---|---|---|
| Safeguarding and Protecting People | 33 | 30 |
| Governance Failures | 25 | 24 |
| Financial Harms | 19 | 8 |
The other types of issue disclosed by employees and ex-employees in 2021 to 2022 include: reputational damage (4), conflicts of interest (2) and disputes (1).
The top three types of issues reported by trustees and ex-trustees are:
| Nature of Issue | Trustee | Ex-Trustee |
|---|---|---|
| Governance Failures | 26 | 6 |
| Financial Harms | 5 | 5 |
| Safeguarding and Protecting People | 4 | 5 |
The other types of issue disclosed by trustees and ex-trustees in 2021 to 2022 include: disputes (5), conflicts of interests (4) and reputational damage (1).
The top three types of issues reported by volunteers and ex-volunteers are:
| Nature of Issue | Volunteer | Ex-Volunteer |
|---|---|---|
| Governance Failures | 15 | 6 |
| Safeguarding and Protecting People | 7 | 5 |
| Financial Harms | 5 | 3 |
The other types of issue disclosed by volunteers and ex-volunteers in 2021 to 2022 include: disputes (5), GDPR breach (1) and reputational damage (1).
4.4 Action we have taken
The action we take is guided by our Risk and Regulatory Framework.
Our assessment of the nature and level of risk of the 281 disclosures led us to:
- open a case in response to 243 (86.4%) of the disclosures, so we could consider further regulatory engagement. Of these, we assessed that 196 warranted making enquiries of the relevant charity
- the remaining 38 (13.6%) disclosures received related to a case which was already open against the charity in the same period
179 (64%) of the 281 cases relating to disclosures were closed by the end of the reporting period. When a case is closed, we record what we have done by recording the outcome. Please note, more than one outcome can be applied to an individual case.
The closed cases broadly fell into the following categories:
| Outcome | Number |
|---|---|
| Regulatory advice and guidance provided / action plan provided under section 15(2) of the Act | 57 |
| Information gathering powers exercised | 26 |
| Signposted to other regulator | 25 |
| Verified that trustees were dealing with the issue | 16 |
| Following enquiries with the trustees it was decided that it was not proportionate to take further action | 81 |
5. The impact of whistleblowing disclosures on our ability to perform our duties
The disclosures we have received from whistleblowers this year have helped us to detect and prevent concerns in a number of charities and take steps to put these right.
Examples of impacts include:
- opening compliance cases into charities where the disclosure identified a serious risk
- using our powers to protect charities’ beneficiaries, assets, work and reputations and, more widely, public trust and confidence in charities and the charity sector
- identifying other governance issues not directly raised by the whistleblower and ensuring these are addressed
- ensuring charities are complying with their safeguarding duties
- giving regulatory advice to trustees to make them aware of their duties and responsibilities, and ensure they make significant and necessary improvements to their charity’s governance
6. Whistleblowing in the Charity Commission
Supporting and encouraging disclosures to be made to us enables the Commission to fulfil its statutory objectives (as set out in paragraph 2).
It also assists us in our key strategic objective of holding charities to account and dealing with wrongdoing and harm whilst delivering on our purpose to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.
Our approach to whistleblowing continues to evolve and it is an important part of how the Commission uncovers wrongdoing and harm in charities.
We are continuing to promote the confidential advice line service run by the independent charity Protect, which enables potential whistle-blowers to access support and guidance from the experts and encourages individuals to report wrongdoing in charities to the relevant authorities, including the Commission. This service can be accessed via Protect’s specialist freephone number of 0800 055 7214.
Individuals who want to make a disclosure to us have an easy way to approach us via our dedicated email address of whistleblowing@charitycommission.gov.uk and follow up phone call from the Commission ensures that they will be listened to.
Our policy of offering to speak directly with each whistleblower on receipt of their disclosure is a key part of our assessment function. This is our standard approach and allows us to better identify and investigate wrong-doing and potential misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of charities.
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In our 2021/ 2022 Annual Report we reported that we had received 287 whistleblowing disclosures. Upon further checking of the underlying information source we have identified an error and include the revised and verified figure of 281 in this report. ↩