Decision

[Withdrawn] Plymouth Brethren Gospel Hall Trusts

Published 29 August 2017

This decision was withdrawn on 23 January 2020

This case report has been archived in line with our policy because it is over 2 years old.

Applies to England and Wales

1. Background

The Preston Down Trust, (registered charity no. 1155382), a charity that is part of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, was registered with the Charity Commission in January 2014. The Commission registered the Preston Down Trust on the basis that it adopted a new Deed of Variation with a statement of its doctrines and practices and a framework for the administration of the charity in a way which ensured it was charitable and was binding on the trustees.

Following this, over 100 other Gospel Hall Trusts have been registered as charities with the Commission, after adopting a new Deed of Variation. As with Preston Down Trust, a key element of our decision to register each Gospel Hall Trust was that the trustees agreed to address any issues of detriment and harm in accordance with the Deed of Variation, which clearly sets out PBCC’s principles and teachings and, in particular, that associated disciplinary practices and dealings with former members would be mitigated by compassion.

The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) is a non-hierarchical church. The gospel hall trusts can draw on support and guidance from members of their congregations, and other organisations based in the wider Brethren community, but these organisations are not also registrable as charities.

2. About the charities

Each Gospel Hall Trust is governed by a Trust Deed as amended by a Deed of Variation (DoV) which sets out the core religious doctrine and some of the practices of the PBCC. Their objects are:

a) The advancement of the Christian religion for the public benefit, including by the carrying on of the service of God in accordance with the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible as followed by those Christians forming part of a worldwide fellowship known as the PBCC.

b) Any other charitable purposes connected with the Brethren.

Their main activities are providing access to religious worship at their gospel halls and, through street preaching and other engagement with the community, encouraging members of the regular congregation and others to live exemplary lives.

3. Why the Charity Commission got involved

The Commission committed to undertake a programme of post-registration monitoring of a sample of Gospel Hall Trusts one year after their registration. The aim was to ensure the trustees of each charity were complying with the terms of their governing document, including the Deed of Variation, and that the trustees were complying with their duties and responsibilities under charity law.

The monitoring programme began with the Preston Down Trust, as the first charity registered, and the results of our monitoring engagement with PDT can be found in a separate published Case Report.

4. The action the Commission took

The Commission’s monitoring team selected a sample of 24 Gospel Halls for post registration monitoring. The sample was selected to include any charities about which the Commission had received individual concerns following registration, plus a random selection of remaining charities across a wide geographical area.

We carried out desk-based analysis and research, reviewing documentation supplied by the trustees, information from other interested parties (such as former members of PBCC and members of the public) and open source information (such as media reports). In the majority of cases, we undertook inspection visits to explore issues we had identified during the course of our engagement and to gain additional assurance and verification of information.

5. What the Commission found

These are the general findings of the monitoring programme. There were several halls to which we gave regulatory advice and guidance on additional matters relating to their individual circumstances.

5.1 Awareness of the Deed of Variation

We were satisfied that the charities we monitored had made the DoV widely accessible to members, in order to ensure transparency and accountability by:

• making members of the congregation fully aware that adherence to the DoV is a condition of their gospel hall trust being a registered charity

• consulting members of the local congregation when the meeting to formally adopt the DoV was held

• giving members of the local congregation over the age of seventeen access to copies of the DoV

• giving households a copy of the DoV and, if necessary making further copies readily available upon request

• generally discussing the DoV at trustee meetings and undertaking wider discussion about the DoV with members of the congregation.

The Commission did receive some complaints that members of the congregation at certain Gospel Halls may not be aware of the DoV and were not allowed to retain a copy.

We examined these complaints and visited the charities concerned, as part of our monitoring review. The Commission found no evidence that any members were prevented from accessing a copy of the DoV, which is also available on the Commission’s website.

5.2 Compliance with the Deed of Variation – public benefit

The Commission assessed how each charity was able to demonstrate public benefit, including its level of external engagement and consequent public benefit.

Public access

The Commission was satisfied from the information we observed and examined that every charity we monitored has the majority of its meetings accessible to non-members.

We witnessed clearly visible signage outside the premises of each of the charities we visited, which provided information about public access, including the dates and times of meetings/services and relevant contact details to facilitate access.

It is accepted that some meetings each week may be limited to members of the local congregation.

The charities also provided evidence, including feedback from attendees, of holding public interaction days, when non-members are invited to visit a local gospel hall to learn more about what the charity does and how they can attend for worship.

Street preaching

Having reviewed the documentation provided, including records of dates when preaching was undertaken/is scheduled to take place and details about the numbers of tracts distributed, we are content that the charities we monitored were actively engaged in street preaching within the community.

Additional notification about public access to meetings is provided on the gospel tracts handed out during street preaching events.

Engaging in the wider community

Each charity monitored was able to provide evidence of work undertaken with the wider community outside of its membership, including photographs, feedback from attendees and written acknowledgements of support.

Detriment/harm

Our monitoring process included proactively contacting individuals who had previously notified us of concerns about the treatment of former members. Although the majority had no further comments to make, we did meet with a small number who raised concerns about individual charities.

We visited the trustees of the charities in question to discuss the complaints raised. We concluded, following our questioning of the trustees, that they had acted in accordance with the requirement for compassion in the DoV in those particular matters.

The Commission accepts that trustees of Gospel Hall Trusts cannot control the behaviour of individual members of the congregation, who have personal choice in their dealings with their own family members. However, the Commission does expect the trustees ensure the DoV is readily available to members and to have regular discussions with them about its provisions. In the event of members approaching trustees for advice about communicating with non-Brethren, we expect them to provide guidance that is consistent with the DoV

The Commission also raised the issue of treatment of former members with the other charities selected for review and provided advice and guidance on this matter.

5.3 Policies

During our monitoring of PDT, PBCC acknowledged that all Gospel Hall Trusts needed to have formal policies in place to set out acceptable standards for administrative and financial procedures. In response to this, members of PBCC established a universal service team (UST), consisting of Brethren members, and non-member consultants when required. USTs remit includes creating a ‘central library’ of policies and procedures, to be utilised by all Gospel Hall Trusts, to ensure compliance and promote consistency of approach.

The Commission understands the value of such a centralised specialist team but has made clear that the work of the UST does not remove the responsibility of each charity to operate independently and ensure it adapts and implements the required policies for its particular circumstances.

The Commission identified that since the introduction of UST, the Gospel Hall Trusts had implemented a number of policies and procedures which are usual and necessary for the proper governance and administration of a charity, including a complaints policy, grant-making policy, financial controls policy, conflicts of interest policy and safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries policy.

Our review of these documents revealed that the safeguarding policy needed strengthening in some areas to ensure it was fully fit for purpose in light of charities’ and trustees’ duties in this area. PBCC has since acted on our regulatory advice and guidance by incorporating the necessary elements into the policy, to achieve this. UST is in the process of circulating revised versions of the safeguarding policy to all Gospel Hall Trusts.

5.4 Charitable collections

Preliminary information we obtained from PBCC about the way money is collected from congregations to finance the Gospel Hall charities raised concerns for the Commission about the level of control the charities had over income generation.

We have since met with key representatives of PBCC and its legal advisers, to further discuss how collections happen and how they ensure any charitable funds are properly controlled. We issued specific regulatory advice and guidance about collections from the congregation to ensure that going forward the charities have sufficient control over their charitable income and that there is greater clarity about any non-charitable collections taking place on their premises.

6. Summary

As a result of the monitoring conducted, the Commission has not identified any significant regulatory issues relating to the Gospel Hall Trusts’ compliance with the DoV. The Commission found the trustees of those charities are taking steps to ensure they are operating in accordance with it.

The Commission is satisfied it has seen sufficient evidence of each charity’s engagement with the wider community to demonstrate public benefit.

The Commission has provided regulatory advice and guidance to the charities in the sample to ensure they are complying with their responsibilities under charity law in the following areas:

• appropriate policies to facilitate the proper administration of the charities

• collections from the congregation and generating sufficient income

UST on behalf of PBCC will ensure this guidance is disseminated to all the registered Gospel Hall charities not directly included in the Commission’s monitoring review.

7. Impact of the Commission’s involvement

The Commission ensured it had sufficient assurance and verified that the Gospel Hall Trusts we monitored were complying with the terms of their governing document, including the Deed of Variation.

We have provided PBCC and the Gospel Hall Trusts with regulatory advice and guidance in relation to improvements required in their policies and practices.

8. Lessons for other charities

Trustees must ensure their charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit. Public benefit is not something trustees only need to think about when a charity is registered. Once a charity has been set up, its trustees must operate it in accordance with charity law and the charity’s purposes. To carry out their charity’s purposes for the public benefit, charity trustees should know what their charity’s purposes are and understand how each purpose is for the public benefit.

Trustees must have regard to the Commission’s guidance Public benefit: running a charity.

Trustees must make sure that their charity complies with its governing document. Every trustee should have an up-to-date copy of their charity’s governing document and regularly refer to it.

Trustees must manage their charity’s resources responsibly and avoid exposing the charity’s assets to undue risk. All charities should have appropriate internal financial controls which are essential checks and procedures that help charity trustees:

• meet their legal duties to safeguard the charity’s assets

• administer the charity’s finances and assets in a way that identifies and manages risk

• ensure the quality of financial reporting, by keeping adequate accounting records and preparing timely and relevant financial information

Trustees should consult the Commission’s guidance Internal financial controls for charities (CC8) and Charity finances: trustee essentials (CC25).

Trustees must ensure appropriate accountability to people interested in their charity. They should consider the benefits of having appropriate procedures for dealing with complaints, and ensuring they are easy to find and easy to follow.

By law, trustees of charities working with children and other vulnerable groups must promote their welfare and protect them from harm. Further advice on how to achieve this can be found in the Commission’s guidance Charities: how to protect vulnerable groups including children.