Whistleblowing disclosures made to the Charity Commission for England and Wales 2023 to 2024
Published 27 September 2024
Applies to England and Wales
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1. The statutory framework under employment legislation
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 providing protection for ‘workers’ is set 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 five 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 Regulatory and Risk Framework explains our functions and powers.
3. Our approach to whistleblowing disclosures
Whistleblowing disclosures help us to detect serious problems in charities and play 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 and Trade, 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 those who do not meet the definition of a ‘worker’ 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 2023 to 2024
We received 561 whistleblowing disclosures between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. This is a significant increase of 72% in the number disclosed compared to the previous year and is the highest number of disclosures received within the last 9 years, as shown in the chart below.
| Year | Total | % difference year on year |
|---|---|---|
| 2023/2024 | 561 | 71.6 |
| 2022/2023 | 327 | 16.3 |
| 2021/2022 | 281 | -34.8 |
| 2020/2021 | 431 | 74.4 |
| 2019/2020 | 247 | 33.5 |
| 2018/2019 | 185 | 83.2 |
| 2017/2018 | 101 | 14.8 |
| 2016/2017 | 88 | 1.1 |
| 2015/2016 | 87 | 0 |
By way of comparison, outside of the whistleblowing disclosures received, complaints from members of the public to the Commission about charities rose by 50% in the same period (from 2086 complaints in the year from 2022 to 2023 to 3131 in 2023 to 2024), Matters of Material Significance reports by auditors and independent examiners rose by 10% (from 431 reports to 475 reports) and Reports of Serious Incidents (RSIs) from charity trustees rose by 5% in the same period (from 2969 reports to 3106 reports).
Taken together as part of the wider analysis, there has been an uplift in concerns being raised with the Commission about the charities registered with us. The exact reasons for this are unclear but we know from our own research[footnote 1] that in a challenging financial environment post- Covid and with inflation and cost of living pressures all impacting on the sector, this may be why we are seeing more demand on charities and therefore more complaints coming to us as the regulator.
Key findings from the 2023 to 2024 disclosures:
- There has been a 72% increase in the number of disclosures compared to the previous reporting period.
- The majority of disclosures are from employees and ex-employees (54% in 2023 to 2024 compared with 56% in 2022 to 2023).
- The primary issues raised remain governance, safeguarding or financial management concerns as has been the case in previous reporting periods.
4.1 Source of whistleblowing disclosures
We received the majority of disclosures from employees (54%), which includes current employees and ex-employees. The remaining disclosures are received from non-employees (46%).
| Employee | 179 |
|---|---|
| Ex-Employee | 124 |
| Non-employee | 258 |
4.2 Charity classification
Each registered charity has a particular classification code to identify its purpose.
As a charity can have more than one classification, this means that the numbers shown in these tables will be larger than the overall number of individual disclosures (561) that we have received.
The classifications regard what the charity does, who the charity helps, and how the charity operates.
What the charity does
| What | Total |
|---|---|
| Education/training | 258 |
| The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives | 131 |
| General Charitable Purposes | 127 |
| Disability | 114 |
| The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty | 100 |
| Economic/community Development/employment | 98 |
| Arts/culture/heritage/science | 68 |
| Amateur Sport | 67 |
| Other Charitable Purposes | 65 |
| Environment/conservation/heritage | 62 |
| Religious Activities | 59 |
| Recreation | 53 |
| Accommodation/housing | 40 |
| Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity | 38 |
| Animals | 35 |
| Overseas Aid/famine Relief | 23 |
| Armed Forces/emergency Service Efficiency | 4 |
Who the charity helps
| Who | Total |
|---|---|
| The General Public/mankind | 262 |
| Children/young People | 236 |
| People With Disabilities | 181 |
| Elderly/old People | 155 |
| Other Defined Groups | 123 |
| Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies | 99 |
| People Of A Particular Ethnic Or Racial Origin | 58 |
How the charity operates
| How | Total |
|---|---|
| Provides Services | 309 |
| Provides Advocacy/advice/information | 246 |
| Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space | 174 |
| Provides Human Resources | 112 |
| Other Charitable Activities | 96 |
| Makes Grants To Organisations | 80 |
| Acts As An Umbrella Or Resource Body | 78 |
| Sponsors Or Undertakes Research | 73 |
| Makes Grants To Individuals | 54 |
| Provides Other Finance | 18 |
4.3 Type of issues raised
When we open a case, we record the type of issue raised with us. The top three reported issues in 2023 to 2024 are governance failures, safeguarding and protecting people, and financial harms - this is consistent with the trends seen in our compliance casework overall.
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 reporting over previous years.
As was the case last year, governance remains the most prominent type of issue and has helped to drive the overall year-on-year increase in total disclosures. However, with a significant rise in overall disclosures, we have seen an increase in reporting for various types of issues. Reports regarding financial harms have increased significantly to 128 this year compared to 62 last year. Additionally, reports regarding safeguarding have seen an increase in the last year, rising to 104 this year compared to 81 last year.
| Type of Issue | 16/17 | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 | 23/24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governance | 57 | 60 | 72 | 109 | 141 | 112 | 152 | 277 |
| Financial Harms | 11 | 8 | 18 | 46 | 121 | 50 | 62 | 128 |
| Safeguarding and Protecting People | 15 | 24 | 89 | 72 | 122 | 90 | 81 | 104 |
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 2023 to 2024 include: conflicts of interest (26), disputes (19), reputational damage (4), GDPR breach (2), and Public Benefit (1).
4.4. Action we have taken
The action we take is guided by our Regulatory and Risk Framework.
Our assessment of the nature and level of risk of the 561 disclosures led us to open a case in response to 471 (84%) of the disclosures, so we could consider further regulatory engagement. The remaining 90 (16%) disclosures received related to a charity which was already subject to an open case in the same period.
At the end of the reporting period 378 (80%) of the 471 cases were closed. 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 outcome codes recorded in closed cases fell into the following categories:
| Outcome | Total |
|---|---|
| Following enquiries, it was decided that it was not proportionate to take further action | 264 |
| Regulatory advice and guidance provided / action plan provided under section 15(2) of the Act | 115 |
| Information gathering powers exercised | 35 |
| Signposted to Other Regulator | 16 |
| Verified that trustees were dealing with the issue | 14 |
All the advice we provide is of a regulatory nature appropriate to the nature of the issue raised.
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 section 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.
Whistleblowing disclosures are an important part of how the Commission can uncover wrongdoing and harm in charities.
Our relationship with the independent charity Protect is ongoing with Protect continuing to operate a confidential advice line service on our behalf which enables potential whistle-blowers to access expert support and guidance.
This service can be accessed via Protect’s specialist freephone number of 0800 055 7214 and, as well as providing advice, Protect encourage individuals contacting it to report wrongdoing in charities to the relevant authorities, including the Commission.
Individuals who want to make a disclosure to the Commission have an easy way to approach us via our dedicated email address of whistleblowing@charitycommission.gov.uk, and we offer a follow up phone call to everyone who makes a disclosure via this route to ensure that they are listened to and we can hear from them directly about what is concerning them.
Our policy of offering to speak directly with each whistleblower on receipt of their disclosure is a key part of our assessment function and this approach allows us to better identify and investigate wrong-doing and potential misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of charities.
Further information on whistleblowing can be found on our website:
Report serious wrongdoing at a charity as a worker or volunteer