Transparency data

Whistleblowing disclosures made to the Charity Commission for England and Wales 2025 to 2026

Published 30 September 2026

Applies to England and Wales

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

3. Our approach to whistleblowing disclosures

Whistleblowing disclosures can help us to detect serious problems in charities and play a valuable role in our regulation of the charity sector. In undertaking our role, 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 who raise serious concerns with us about their charity as whistleblowers. 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.

When we receive a whistleblowing disclosure, 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. Our assessment and response depend on what we are told and the severity of the matter.

4. Whistleblowing facts and figures 2025 to 2026

We received 594 whistleblowing disclosures between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. This is an increase of 9% in the number disclosed compared to the previous year and is the highest number of disclosures received within the last 10 years, as shown in the chart below. It is worth noting that the Commission changed its approach to whistleblowing in 2019 to encourage disclosures to be made, this generated the steady increase in volumes over time and the biggest year on year increase to date.

Year	Total	% change year on year
2025-2026	594	8.8
2024-2025	546	-2.7
2023-2024	561	71.16
2022-2023	327	16.4
2021-2022	281	-34.8
2020-2021	431	74.5
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 the 2025 to 2026 disclosures:

• the majority of disclosures are from employees and ex-employees (61% in 2025 to 2026, 54% in 2024 to 2025)
• the primary issues raised remain financial management, governance, or safeguarding concerns as has been the case in previous reporting periods. The types of charity included in disclosures reflect the composition of the Register for Charities and are not exceptional

4.1 Source of whistleblowing disclosures

61% of disclosures were made by people who are employed (36%) or have been employed (25%) by a charity. However, the largest single group of whistleblowers, at 39%, are non-employees or volunteers who have worked for a charity in some capacity. This is a similar trend to the preceding year.

Employee	Ex-Employee	Non-employee
216 (36%)	149 (25%)	229 (39%)

4.2 Type of issues raised

Please note, where disclosures include more than one type of issue, we base the type of issue on the primary issue reported.

The top three reported issues via disclosures in 2025 to 2026 were governance failures (37%), financial harms (24%), and safeguarding and protecting people (23%), which remains consistent with preceding years.

Governance remains the most prominent type of issue; however, it has decreased from 303 to 229 (55% to 37%). In contrast, reports concerning financial harms have risen, increasing from 96 to 145 (18% to 24%) year-on-year and safeguarding related disclosures have also increased, rising from 84 to 138 (15% to 23%).

Safeguarding and governance issues can arise in many different situations and are often closely connected. For example, weaknesses in governance can be a significant contributing factor in safeguarding incidents, particularly where the safeguarding concern relates to risks faced by beneficiaries. Because of this close relationship, safeguarding and governance issues often overlap, and concerns in one area may indicate problems in the other.

It is important to note that the Commission is not a safeguarding authority. We do not investigate individual allegations of abuse, decide whether any allegations are true or bring prosecutions. But we can refer concerns to relevant safeguarding agencies and other regulatory bodies to take further action. Rather, the Commission can hold trustees to account if things go wrong and look at how trustees have acted to protect beneficiaries, staff, volunteers, and anyone else who comes into contact with their charity.

The other types of issue raised in 2025 to 2026 include: conflicts of interest (58), disputes (16), reputational damage (6), and GDPR breach (2).

Type of issue	Governance	Financial Harms	Safeguarding and Protecting people
2025-2026	229	145	138
2024-2025	303	96	84
2023-2024	277	128	104
2022-2023	152	62	81
2021-2022	112	50	90
2020-2021	141	121	122
2019-2020	109	46	72
2018-2019	72	18	89
2017-2018	60	8	24
2016-2017	57	11	15

Considering trends over the last ten years, concerns relating to governance, financial harms, and safeguarding and protecting people have all shown a significant upward trend. While all three categories show some year to year variation, the overall pattern is one of sustained growth, with report volumes in 2025-26 remaining significantly above historic levels. This suggests a continued increase in concerns being identified and reported across these key areas of regulatory risk.

4.3 Action we have taken

We are a risk-led regulator. Being risk-led in our regulation means being proactive in identifying risks and intervening, where possible, to prevent harm before it occurs; addressing harm effectively where it occurs; and focusing our resources on the highest risks. Our guidance, ‘Raising a concern with the Charity Commission (CC47)’, outlines how we operate as a risk-led regulator, and, in particular, how we identify and assess risks, how we respond to risks, and how we review and adapt our approach.

We seek to hold charities to account to basic standards, and while we ensure concerns are investigated and intentional wrongdoing dealt with, we also focus on supporting trustees to get things back on track when they do not go exactly as intended.

Our assessment of the nature and level of risk of the 594 disclosures led us to open a case in response to 465 (78%) of the disclosures, so we could consider further regulatory engagement. The remaining 129 disclosures received (22%) related to charities that were already subject to an open case pertaining to the same issues.

Of the 465 cases, 193 (42%) have been closed and 272 (58%) remain ongoing and subject to engagement at the time of reporting.

When a case is closed, we record what we have done by recording the outcome.

The outcome codes recorded in closed cases fell into the following categories. The table shows the breakdown of recorded outcomes or action taken relating to cases that were opened in 2025-26:

Outcome	Total
Cases ongoing at the time of reporting	272 (58%)
Cases closed	193 (42%)
• Regulatory advice and guidance issued under section 15(2) of the Act	23 (5%)
• Information gathering powers used or additional verification completed	7 (2%)
• Following enquiries, it was decided that it was not proportionate to take further action	163 (35%)

We focus on dealing with concerns which may cause the greatest impact or harm to charities and public trust and confidence in charities. The regulatory action we take will be proportionate to how serious the 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.

We are unable to take forward every concern about a charity and prioritise matters of highest risk. Where we assess that a concern poses a limited risk for a charity, we may not progress with it, but we will keep it on record.

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 465 compliance cases into charities where the disclosure identified a serious risk
• giving regulatory advice to trustees of 23 charities to make them aware of their duties and responsibilities and ensure they make necessary improvements to their charity’s governance.
• identifying other governance issues not directly raised by the whistleblower and ensuring these are addressed
• ensuring charities are complying with their safeguarding duties

6. Whistleblowing in the Charity Commission

Our ambition is to be an expert Commission that is fair, balanced and independent so that charity can thrive.

Supporting and encouraging disclosures assist us in this and are an important part of how the Commission can uncover wrongdoing and harm in charities. It also enables the Commission to fulfil its statutory objectives (as set out above in section 2).

Individuals who want to make a disclosure to the Commission can do so through our raising a concern form. We may offer a follow up phone call to those who makes a disclosure via this route if required to ensure that they are listened to and we can hear their concerns directly from them.

Further information on whistleblowing in the Commission can be found in our guidance, Report serious wrongdoing at a charity as a worker or volunteer