The Charity Commission will support charities that are protecting staff and volunteers from abuse and dismiss any complaints it receives that aim to weaponise sector organisations, its interim chair has said.
Writing this week in the Guardian, Mark Simms said that he was “disturbed” by the measures some charities had taken to protect staff and their families from harm, including death threats, and to respond to criminal damage to property, adding that “nobody should face this kind of abhorrent abuse while doing their job”.
He said the commission takes seriously every concern that it receives but that the regulator would “make short shrift” of any complaints that aim to “weaponise charities to further political ends that have nothing to do with the charity law framework”.
Simms’ statement came in response to an open letter from sector representatives to prime minister Keir Starmer, warning that charity workers are facing abuse amid increasing “far-right activity” in the UK and urging his government to act.
The letter described “increasing racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism on the streets and in workplaces, including abuse of charity staff and charity shop volunteers”.
In his article, Simms said the regulator would support trustees’ measures “to keep themselves, and their staff and volunteers safe from harm” and defend their rights.
Simms wrote: “Charities have championed the welfare of those who are vulnerable and ostracised, for centuries.
“That endeavour is vital not just to our civil society, but to our self-respect as a civilised nation.
“The Charity Commission will defend and protect the right – and indeed the responsibility – of charities to deliver on their lawful purposes.”
A number of charity leaders took to LinkedIn to thank Simms for writing the statement, describing it as “clear and powerful” and thanking him for “standing up for decency and hope”.
