Charity Commission Publishes Its Annual Report And Accounts For 2024/25

The Charity Commission has published its annual report and accounts for 2024/25. This includes casework statistics, a review of its strategic objectives, legal developments and governance updates.

Casework statistics

• The Commission has reported an increase in the volume and complexity of its casework. A record 9,836 applications to register a charity were received, up around 9% from last year. Around 5,000 of these organisations were registered as charities.
• The Commission has concluded several sensitive and high-profile cases and investigations this year. For instance, into the Captain Tom Foundation and Mermaids. The Commission also gave its consent for the transfer of £1 billion worth of Chinese ceramics from the Sir Percival David Foundation to the British Museum, which was the most valuable object donation in the British Museum's history.

Strategic objectives

The Commission launched a new strategy for 2024-29, setting out five objectives:

1. To be fair and proportionate in their work and clear about their role.
2. To support charities to get it right but take robust action where there is wrongdoing and harm.
3. To speak with authority and credibility, free from the influence of others.
4. To embrace technological innovation and strengthen how it uses data.
5. To be the expert Commission, where people are empowered and enabled to deliver excellence in regulation.

The Commission reports several achievements against these objectives:

• There has been a significant improvement in charities' compliance with the laws on campaigning. The Commission only initiated 34 new compliance cases across 170,000 charities. There was a 60% decline in high-risk cases since the 2019 election.
• The Commission introduced a set of operational performance standards in 2020-21 to track the timeliness, quality and effectiveness of their work. One of these standards was to answer calls to its helpline within 9 minutes. In 2024-25, the Commission answered 84% of calls within this timeframe (compared to 40% in 2023-24).
• Over 2024-25, the Commission has made several service improvements to the My Charity Commission Account system. The Commission reports that it has seen a decrease in the number of calls about these accounts.
• In Charity Fraud Awareness Week, the Commission published bespoke guidance on fraud and how trustees can protect their charity from cyber-crime. These resources signpost support for trustees and provide a more detailed picture of how fraud is affecting the sector.
• The Commission delivered a trustee awareness campaign involving guides and quizzes for trustees to test their knowledge on governance topics. The campaign reached 2.2 million people on social media and 43% of trustees who engaged intend to or took an action to either share guidance, upskill or make improvements in their charity.

The report sets outkey indicators for measuring the impact of its objectives:

The level of public trust and confidence in charities

• Public trust in charities remains high and stable, with an average trust score of 6.5 out of 10 and with 57% of people having high trust in charities.

Trustees' perception of the Commission as fair

• 46% of charity trustees feel that the Commission is fair and only 3% think it is unfair.

Confidence in the Commission's regulatory approach

• 96% of trustees who used Commission guidance found it helpful. 85% of trustees are confident that the Commission will identify wrongdoing and harm in charities.

Perception of the Commission's independence

• Trustees continue to perceive that the main influence on the Commission's decision making is charity law but feel that charities themselves should have greater influence.

Use and quality of data

• 92% of charities were up to date with filing at the end of 2024-25, representing a significant improvement from 81% in 2023-24.

Skilled and empowered staff

• The Commission's Technical Competence training had a 98% completion rate.

Legal developments

The Commission's regulatory decisions can be challenged in court or the charity tribunal. The following are some key cases involving the Commission that have been decided in the past year.

1. Mond v The Charity Commission for England and Wales [2025] UKFTT 103 (GRC)

This case was an appeal of a disqualification order against charity trustee Mr Mond. We covered this case in our previous e-alert here.

2. Ukraine Development Charity (UDC) v The Charity Commission for England and Wales [2025] UKFTT 00263 (GRC)

This case covered an appeal against the Commission's refusal to register UDC as a charity. The Tribunal dismissed the appeal concluding that UDC did not meet the criteria for charitable status. This was based on evidence that UDC was not established exclusively for a charitable purpose due to its connections with and lack of independence from non-charitable entities, its potential political purpose due to military affiliations (supporting the armed forces in Ukraine) and not operating for the public benefit.

3. MacLennan v British Psychological Society (Protect and The Charity Commission for England and Wales intervening) [2024] EAT 166

This case was an appeal against the Employment Tribunal's decision that charity trustee Mr MacLennan did not qualify as a worker for the purposes of whistleblowing protections. He was an elected volunteer trustee who was not remunerated and did not have a written contract. The lack of a contractual relationship between the parties led the Employment Appeal Tribunal to conclude that a volunteer trustee is not a worker.However, the case was sent back to the Employment Tribunal to consider whether Mr MacLennan's rights to freedom of expression and prohibition of discrimination under the European Convention of Human Rights meant that he should be treated as a worker despite the lack of contractual relationship between the parties. The Commission has been granted permission to take part in this case given its potential wide-reaching impact on the sector.

4. Kanter-Webber v Information Commissioner [2025] UKFTT 00262 (GRC)

This case was an appeal by Rabbi Kanter-Webber against the Information Commissioner's decision that the Commission had correctly refused to disclose information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The requested information included the names of trustees who had been granted permission to conceal their names from the Register. The Tribunal agreed that disclosure of this information would undermine the protection given to the trustees and the charity and potentially erode trust in the Commission. The Tribunal dismissed the appeal and concluded that the Information Commissioner's decision was correct.

5. R (on the application of Michael-Karim Kerman) v The Charity Commission for England and Wales [2025] EWHC 1223 (Admin)

This case involved a judicial review challenge brought by Mr Kerman, the former Clinical Director of Kids Company. We discussed this case in our June e-alert here.

Governance

On 24 April 2025, Orlando Fraser KC's term of appointment as Chair came to an end. Mark Simms OBE was appointed as interim Chair from 25 April 2025 for up to 6 months, or until a new permanent Chair is appointed. Please see our previous article on changes the Commission's leadership here.

The Official Custodian for Charities Annual Accounts

Relatedly, the Official Custodian for Charities has published its annual accounts for 2024 - 2025. The Official Custodian is an entity created by statute whose main function is to hold land belonging to a charity on trust for the charity. More information can be found here.

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