The Charity Commission today announced 17 further inquiries into "double defaulting" charities that have not filed accounts for at least two years.

In September 2013, the regulator first launched a class inquiry into charities that have failed to file annual reports and accounts and annual returns for two or more years. The inquiry initially covered only those charities with a last known income of more than £500,000.

A second phase of the inquiry was launched in November 2013, extending it to those charities with a last known income of £250,000. Due to the number of charities involved, the Commission staggered this phase, adding 21 charities to the inquiry between November 2013 and May 2014, and a further 29 charities to the inquiry between May and November 2014.

Those added to the inquiry in November 2014 are announced today:

• Friends of Horim Establishments Tel Aviv and Arad, (ceased to be part of the inquiry on 4 February 2015)
• Morris Feinmann Homes Trust
• Michael Batt Charitable Trust (ceased to be part of the inquiry on 23 December 2014)
• Gaunts House Charitable Foundation Ltd (ceased to be part of the inquiry on 23 December 2014)
• Marbitzei Torah

In January this year, the Commission launched a new phase of the inquiry, focusing on charities with a last known income of £200,000 to £249,999. Under this phase, 12 charities were added to the inquiry between 26 and 29 January. Those charities have also been announced today:

• Dominion Bible Church
• Shree Sorathia Prajapati Community UK
• The A S Charitable Trust
• The Barry Green Memorial Fund
• Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurudwara (Sikh Temple)
• Truro Methodist Church
• Orkney House Community Nursery
• Ezras Yisroel Trust
• Schools for Hope
• Shalom Employment Action Centre
• The Redeemed Evangelical Mission
• Qur’ani Murkuz Trust

As at the end of February 2015, a total of 74 charities had become part of the inquiry, of which 48 charities had as a result fully complied with their obligations, and therefore ceased to be part of the inquiry.

The Commission said this has resulted in more than £48m being transparently accounted for on the Register of Charities.

Michelle Russell, director of investigations, monitoring and enforcement at the Commission, said:

"As we continue to target defaulting charities, the message to trustees is simple: submitting this annual information is your legal responsibility, even if you delegate it to charity staff or your accountants to do.

"We regularly remind charities throughout the year about their approaching deadlines, and have recently launched a tool that allows third parties to submit accounts, making the process easier for those involved – so there is no excuse."

The Commission will continue to publish inquiry reports into these charities on gov.uk.