Charities fear that having to pay for their regulator would be a "damaging burden" on resources, according to a survey conducted by the Directory of Social Change. 

The survey was completed by 167 individuals, with 158 saying saying Commission should not charge fees to charities. It was not intended by the DSC to be a scientifically robust, but is meant to be a “measure of people’s feelings about the issue of regulatory fees and to shed light on this issue”.

Respondents had the opportunity to leave a written response to the question of whether charities should pay for regulation.  Almost half did so, with comments reflecting how strongly people are against charging for regulation.

Reasons why people were against regulation included seeing fees as a “damaging burden on charitable resources”, seeing fees as “wrong in principle”, and the concern that the introduction of fees could lead to “bad regulation”.

The survey analysis, authored by Ciaran Price, policy officer at the DSC, said: “We acknowledge that our sample size of 167 falls far short of statistical significance, and the demographic of our respondents is weighted towards people with an interest in charities whether as an employee, volunteer or other supporter.” But that the DSC feel it has a “tremendous value as a barometer of opinion towards the Commission’s proposals”.

The survey was conducted in response to a survey commissioned by the regulator in June of this year which found that over two thirds of the public favour the introduction of fees, compared to a quarter of charities.

The DSC criticised the design of a number of key questions and suggested that they produced biased results. As a result it commissioned its own survey, a duplicate of one the charity had produced five years previous.

The results of this year’s survey show a slight increase in the number of people against paying for the regulator compared to the one five years ago – from 90 per cent of respondents saying 'no' to 95.2 per cent.

The report calls on the Charity Commission to consider the survey responses when considering whether or not to introduce fees.

Speaking to Civil Society News, Price said: “The Commission has dangled the introduction of fees over the heads of charities for a number of years, yet so far has provided little insight into what the potential fees might be, or how they might work.

"Charities are being left in the dark, adding to great uncertainty over their future finances. It is time for the Commission to properly engage the sector in a discussion on this and we hope our findings will help get that ball rolling.”

'A matter of principle'

Of the 79 written responses, the most recurring theme (with 34 people mentioning it) said that the introduction of fees would be too great a burden on charities’ resources.

The second most recurring theme was that the Commission “should continue to be state-funded as a matter of principle”. A number of people said this was because as it is for the public benefit that charities are properly regulated, “the general public should have a stake in the Charity Commission and continue to pay for regulation through taxation”.

Of the respondents, 11 expressed concern that the “introduction of fees will lead to bad regulation”. This is centred round a need for the regulator to be independent, with the belief that by “relying on charities for part of its income, the Charity Commission’s impartiality will be undermined”.

Other concerns that emerged were that, because fees are designed to not to be overly burdensome on smaller charities and charities with less available funds, the raising of funds could be seen as a replacement for statutory funding, and that fees could be “poor value for money” – with not enough raised to have a more sustainable funding model.

Price said that the survey was sent to the Charity Commission earlier this month, and that the DSC is for a formal response.

Commission statement

Jane Hobson, head of policy at the Charity Commission, told Civil Society News: “Many charities are aware of the decrease in the Commission’s funding over successive years, and that this pattern cannot continue if the sector wants proper regulation to uphold public trust and confidence in charities. This is an issue which we want charities to be talking about, and this survey has been an opportunity for us to hear what some of them think.

“We have already had constructive conversations with a number of charities and listened to their concerns. We note this is a much smaller survey than the Commission’s and not intended by DSC to be scientifically robust but we acknowledge that it will be important for us to take all views into consideration.”