Sam Younger, chief executive of the Charity Commission, has said the regulator may have to set a minimum level at which it will investigate allegations of charity fraud.

Speaking on BBC Radio’s File on 4, Younger said: “One of the possibilities is saying that we can’t investigate absolutely every allegation that comes our way.

“There are 180,000 charities and we may have to put the bar quite high and say we will only investigate if a certain minimum amount of charitable funds is at risk,” he added.

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said this formed part of its review of its services.

The consultation is the first stage of the Commission’s review of its key priorities, launched in light of its funding cut of 33 per cent over the next five years.

The consultation, which runs to 14 January, includes questions on whether the Commission should allow charity trustees to make their own decision on issues such as trustee payment or selling land or whether these proposals should still be carefully considered by the Commission and subject to its approval.

Click here for more details on the consultation.