Christian education charity receives official warning over failing to act on regulator’s advice
The Charity Commission has issued an Official Warning to the National Council for Christian Standards in Society (NCCSS) for failing to follow its advice.
The National Council for Christian Standards in Society was established in 1986 to promote religion and religious education.
The regulator previously issued the charity with advice, making clear it must separate its charitable work from the political lobbying activities of Christian Voice, a connected, non-charitable body.
Advice given included ensuring a separate entity carries out any non-charitable work, evidencing a clear division of how each organisation is run and removing ‘Christian Voice’ as the charity’s working name on the Register of Charities. The trustees did not take sufficient steps to act on this advice, which has led the regulator to now issue an Official Warning.
The Official Warning sets out actions the charity’s trustees need to take to rectify the misconduct and/or mismanagement, including acting on previous advice. The regulator has also identified that the charity needs to amend its ambiguous purposes to ensure they are exclusively charitable. Failing to take remedial steps to address issues identified by the regulator can result in the charity facing further regulatory action.
Tracy Howarth, Assistant Director for Casework at the Charity Commission, said:
It’s clear this charity has not taken our previous advice on board and so we have issued an Official Warning with the expectation that changes are made at pace. When carrying out any activity, trustees must consider how it helps meet their charitable purposes and if they are acting within charity law. We, and the public, expect this of charities as a minimum.
This intervention should serve as a reminder for all trustees to take any advice and guidance they receive from us seriously. As regulator, we issue guidance to help trustees ensure their charity is run well to deliver for beneficiaries. If we step in, we’re giving advice to help avoid further regulatory action.
Ends
Notes to editors:
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The Official Warning was issued on Monday 30th September 2024 under section 75A of the Charities Act 2011.
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Information about Official Warnings can be found in an online Q&A: Guidance - Official warnings to charities and trustees: Q and A (publishing.service.gov.uk)
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The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Our ambition is to be the expert Charity Commission that is fair, balanced, and independent so that charity can thrive.
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Our guidance on campaigning and political activity can be found via this link: Campaigning and political activity guidance for charities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). We have produced a shorter ‘5 minute guide’ designed to refresh trustees’ knowledge on this topic. This can be found via this link: Political activity and campaigning by charities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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Our guidance on writing charitable purposes can be found via this link: How to write charitable purposes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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