The Charity Commission

Where were they ? The recent debate on the charity tax cap saw Government Ministers talking about dodgy charities, especially European ones, and dodgy philanthropists. At the very least you might think this is a criticism of the work of the Commission. But more importantly, any suggestion from Government that there are fraudulent charities can do damage. People give to charity because they have trust and confidence in the system that regulates charity. And there are high levels of trust in charity. Any suggestions that there is fraud is potentially very damaging; that is why some of us reacted so strongly to the disgraceful remarks from Government, who then so signally failed to back up their claims.

Surely we should have heard from the Charity Commission. A vigorous regulator would have been on the front foot demanding evidence for these claims so they could mount an immediate investigation. I'm afraid this was a case of the mouse that signally failed to roar.