Bubb: Charity Commission should have defended tax cap claims

24 Apr 2012 News

The independence of the Charity Commission has been called into question by Sir Stephen Bubb who says the regulator should have piped up against government claims of tax avoidance through dodgy charities.

The independence of the Charity Commission has been called into question by Sir Stephen Bubb who says the regulator should have piped up against government claims of tax avoidance through dodgy charities.

The Acevo chief executive told civilsociety.co.uk that it should not have been left to himself to demand the names of the .

“You could argue [claims of dodgy charities] was a direct government criticism of the Charity Commission. I would have expected them to say something,” said Bubb.

While he praised the rest of the as “superb”, he said the Charity Commission had failed to defend itself when it needed to.

“One area of disappointment was the Charity Commission. I had expected them to be a little more robust in defending the sector when accusations were being made about dodgy charities. It shouldn’t have been left to me to demand the names of those charities. The Charity Commission should have been doing that.”

When faced with government claims that tax dodgers were using bogus charities, the Charity Commission should have held the government to account, said Sir Stephen.  

“It does pose a question about how independent the Charity Commission is if it’s not prepared to stand up and speak their mind robustly.”

The Charity Commission declined to respond to the comments.