The Charity Commission has expressed concern over organisations facing serious financial difficulties that are contacting the regulator “at a very late stage”.
In a letter seen by Civil Society, the commission shared its concerns with the Charity Law Association (CLA) that a number of organisations had asked it to authorise urgent transactions such as property disposals late on to secure their continued operation.
The commission said that trustees of other financially challenged charities had sought its authorisation unnecessarily.
It said the commission was likely to have regulatory concerns and could open a compliance case if it encounters trustees who have “failed to take timely and appropriate steps”.
In the July-dated letter, the commission said that in many of the cases it had encountered, charities had not taken prompt and necessary action despite professional legal advisers being involved.
It therefore urged the CLA to ensure its lawyer members encourage charity clients to contact it at an early stage when they are facing significant financial difficulties or are considering transactions that may require regulatory authority.
“Early engagement often allows a wider range of options to be considered and can help avoid situations where urgent decisions must be made under significant time pressure,” the letter by the commission’s director of legal and accounting services, Jan Lasik, reads.
Regulatory authority cases double
According to the commission’s data, seen by Civil Society, it opened more than double the number of regulatory authority cases in April to June this year (1,731) compared to the same quarter in 2025 (840).
Cases closed increased by 42% year-on-year to 1,044, the commission reported, while it granted almost a third fewer permissions.
Meanwhile, the commission’s latest sector risk assessment found an increase in cases involving a dispute within a charity, including concerns about issues involving land or property, which it said could be partly due to financial pressures.
Commenting on the CLA letter, Lasik said: “We’re hearing consistently from charities of all sizes about the financial difficulties they are facing, as financial resilience continues to be the biggest risk facing the sector.
“When dealing with such challenges, independent legal advice and good accountancy practices should inform trustees’ timely decision-making.
“If trustees need our permission, for example to sell land or to adjust their charitable purposes, leaving it until the last minute creates a bigger risk as we’re handling higher than ever numbers of this type of casework.”
Lasik said that some decisions may not need regulatory authority, such as making “moral” payments, but encouraged charities considering these to seek legal advice early on nonetheless.
