Raising concerns

The Charity Commission regulates registered charities in England and Wales. We make sure that charities are accountable, well-run and meet their legal obligations.

We do this by providing regulatory advice and guidance. We will also intervene in matters where there is serious risk of significant harm to, or abuse of, charities, their beneficiaries or assets.

Before you start

Before submitting a complaint you must:

• complain directly to the charity first - you can find contact details of charities on the charity register - or be able to explain why you could not do this
• check if you should complain to the Charity Commission or a different organisation

What to use this form for

Only use this form if there is a serious risk of harm to the charity or people it was set up to help.

Examples of serious issues include:

• a charity not following the law, with damaging consequences to its reputation and public trust in charities generally
• serious harm to the people the charity helps or other people who come into contact with the charity through its work
• a person or organisation receiving significant financial benefit from a charity
• criminal, illegal or terrorist activity
• a charity set up for illegal or improper purposes
• a charity losing significant amounts of money
• a charity losing significant assets, for example land or buildings

Information you need

You need details of:

• the issue, clearly describing its serious nature and the potential consequences
• any attempts you have made to get the charity to address the issue
• any previous correspondence with the Charity Commission or other public bodies
• any legal proceedings involved

If you can, do not give us personal data about other people. Only include it if it is essential to reporting your concern. For example, say 'an individual has stolen from the charity' instead of 'Joe Bloggs has stolen from the charity'.

Providing evidence

You can upload PDF documents of evidence in this form (up to 10MB).

Examples of evidence include (but are not restricted to):

• copies of bank or credit card statements or pre-signed blank cheques
• copies of invoices or receipts
• copies of contracts, policies and procedures
• internal complaints or reports from other agencies highlighting failures or weaknesses
• copies of any legal or professional advice that hasn’t been followed
• media reporting affecting the charity name
• literature issued by the charity

After you submit a complaint

We consider and record all complaints and decide what steps to take but will not take action in every case.

When making our decisions we consider the issue, the risk involved to the charity and its beneficiaries and the likely impact of our involvement.

We can only take action where it is evidence based and proportionate to do so.