The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has closed a statutory inquiry which investigated concerns that the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) didn’t have the correct procedures in place for its key objectives.
The Commission opened a statutory inquiry into the charity in December 2013, following concerns first raised in July 2013 which asserted USPCA had “no, or inadequate, procedures in place in order to tend to its key objective”, which specifically referenced the “historic intervention on private and commercial premises by the USPCA in concert with other agencies”.
In following up on these concerns, the Commission received documentation from the charity, which is the second oldest animal charity in the world, which suggested procedures where not adequate. The Commission was also concerned by a “perceived lack of co-operation by the charity”.
A number of concerns were also raised in respect of “inappropriate related party transactions and other issues”, but these could not be substantiated by the Commission’s investigation.
In May 2014, the USPCA lodged an application with the Charity Tribunal to review the Commission’s decision to open the investigation, which was then withdrawn in September 2014.
Responses received from the charity indicated a number of governance areas where “the charity lacked adequate controls which required significant and prompt remedial action by trustees”.
The charity appointed an independent consultant to review these concerns and the charity’s corporate governance and policies.
The consultant produced a number of policy documents for USPCA, which were subsequently approved by the Commission. These included the provision that “where a conflict of interest presents itself, the conflicted trustee shall absent themselves from the decision making and not be counted as part of the required quorum”.
Other changes implemented by the charity included the endeavour to increase the number of trustees on its board.
The statutory inquiry has now been closed, as the Commission is content that risks posed to its effective governance have been significantly reduced. However, “a regulatory enquiry remains open whilst the Commission assesses the effectiveness of the full implementation of the remaining policy and procedural enhancements”.
On 6 February 2015, the charity told the Commission that they have started their application to register with the Commission.
Myles McKeown, head of enquiries and compliance at the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, said: “Our aim is to support Northern Ireland’s charities in maintaining and, where required, restoring good governance to their organisations so they may operate effectively, for the public benefit and in accordance with the law.
“This means, where possible and as appropriate to the level of risk, we will look to work with a charity to resolve any governance issues identified.
“In this case, for example, thanks to the work of the Commission, the charity has improved its governance procedures. In fact, at the charity’s December 2014 AGM, the outgoing chair welcomed the intervention of the Commission in supporting the charity to improve its procedures and policies.”
A spokesman from the charity said that it welcomes the report. He said: “Our trustees fully endorse the role of the charity regulator and, with CCNI guidance they have ensured full compliance with both company and charity law. The USPCA board took all the steps necessary to ensure the exemplary standards of good governance required by the regulator were met and implemented.”
