The Charity Commission has agreed 34 staff redundancies since December 2013, taking total redundancies in the last three years to 163, according to accounts published yesterday.
The regulator has not yet seen a further fall in staff numbers, which stood at 304 at the end of the year, compared to 305 at the start.
The regulator's annual report and accounts also show the Charity Commission opened 64 statutory inquiries in 2013/14, compared to just 15 during the previous year.
And they show the proportion of charities’ annual returns filed within the deadline increased four percentage points to 86 per cent in 2013/14.
The report showed that of the inquiries it opened, the Commission concluded 23 over the period, April 2013 to March 2014, compared to five in 2012/13.
Statutory inquiries are used to investigate and deal with the most serious regulatory issues and allow the regulator to make use of its full range of legal powers.
A new operations monitoring team was set up in October last year to deal with cases that are not considered of the highest risk, or where there are the most serious concerns, the report says.
The team dealt with 318 cases between October and April this year. The team works closely with the Commission’s registration staff to monitor charities where concerns are raised during and after the application process.
The Commission has increased the volume of its serious investigatory work in response to criticism by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee, which called for the regulator to be more proactive and robust.
The annual report contains case studies about high-profile recent cases including the Preston Down Trust and the Dove Trust.
The regulator received 6,661 applications for registration during the last financial year and approved 4,968, the report shows. This compares to 5,949 applications and 4,714 approvals in 2012/13.
The Commission uses the report to restate its guidance that people should “think carefully before setting up a new charity”.
It suggests people who want to respond to urgent need could work with a local Community Foundation or the Charities Aid Foundation.
The report shows the Commission’s funding settlement from government fell 15 per cent to £21.5m and it is due to be reduced by 4 per cent to £20.3m in 2014/15.
To meet further reductions to its budget the regulator launched a voluntary exit scheme in December and has since agreed the departure of 34 staff members, the report says.
Alternative sources of funding
In his foreword, William Shawcross, chair of the commission, says its funding position remains unstable. “We cannot absorb unending cuts to our budget and may have to consider alternative sources of funding,” he says.
Shawcross recently suggest that charities with an income of more than £100,000 should have to contribute to the Commission’s funding pot.
He said in a statement to mark the publication of the report: “This report details a difficult year for the Commission. We have faced external criticism and continued serious pressures on our resources.
“Despite this, the Commission has made significant improvements: these include stepping up our investigatory case work and improving our ability to identify concerns in charities.
“These changes have been possible thanks to the commitment of the Commission's staff and the drive of our board. I am confident that, with Paula Sussex's arrival as chief executive, we will continue to improve the Commission's performance.”
A more robust approach
Elizabeth Chamberlain, policy manager at NCVO, said: “We’re encouraged to see the Commission is focusing its resources on being, and being seen to be, more robust in its approach to misconduct and mismanagement.
“As its regulatory workload increases, it would be helpful for the Commission to publish regular indicators of the time it is taking to conclude investigations. Robust regulation to secure public confidence must be the overriding goal, but it’s important that individual charities can receive as swift a resolution as possible.”
