The Charity Commission has closed a compliance case into World Vision UK after allegations were made about a “toxic” and “hostile” workplace culture at the international development charity last year.
The regulator said that it decided to close its compliance case this month, having been “assured that the charity has taken steps to address these concerns, including having appropriate policies and procedures in place”.
It has “issued the charity’s trustees with regulatory advice and guidance” and may take further action if it is not followed.
A World Vision spokesperson told Civil Society: “The Charity Commission has closed the regulatory compliance case opened in relation to World Vision UK.
“The charity operates by the highest standards set by the Charity Commission and its processes are devoted to meeting those high standards across all of its operations.”
Restructure
The regulator opened a compliance case in October after a group of people claiming to be current and former staff claimed that reports raised internally of racism, sexism and homophobia at the charity had been “ignored, silenced or inadequately handled” by senior leadership.
This came after the Christian charity announced a restructure in August last year, which placed around 90 of its 200 staff members at risk of redundancy.
The complainants alleged that at least eight senior staff members had left the charity in the preceding months after either being forced to step down or feeling uncomfortable under the current leadership.
They reported that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) were also “routinely used” to silence staff leaving after negative experiences.
At the time, World Vision said that the allegations were false and that it believed that the complaint had come from a “small number” of former employees.
A spokesperson said: “Our talented and dedicated staff are hugely important to us.
“We provide various mechanisms for dealing with staff complaints and if these are upheld, we act immediately to put things right and take action following our policies which are robust and fair.
“The international development sector has faced a number of challenges which led to a significant restructuring of our operations. This led to many job losses, as we shaped our organisation to face the future.
“We recognise such challenges, which have involved job losses through redundancy, are painful for us all as many valued employees have had to leave the organisation.”
World Vision did not confirm how many redundancies were made, when asked by Civil Society.
