Government proposes new Charity Commission powers to combat extremism - charity sector bodies express concern

The proposed powers

The proposed measures would:

• Extend the Commission's ability to suspend trustees and shut down charities. The Commission would seek to streamline decision-making, and the Government would review the appeals process in an effort to make regulatory action quicker and more effective.
• Increase Commission oversight by introducing trustee ID verification and digitising charity accounts
• Introduce automatic disqualification of trustees with unspent hate crime convictions or convictions for providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission. The Commission would also be given discretionary powers to disqualify trustees who have been excluded from the UK, deprived of British citizenship, subject to sanctions or engaged in conduct promoting terrorism, violence or hatred.

The Government has presented these proposed changes as being necessary to protect the charity sector against extremism and to maintain public trust.

Charity sector concerns

Charities and civil society organisations have responded to the proposed measures, most prominently through an open letter to the Government sent in mid-April from a coalition of significant organisations in the sector, including NCVO, ACEVO and Charity Finance Group.

The letter welcomes the push to strengthen social cohesion and recognises the "serious and growing challenges posed by hate, extremism, and division".

The organisations do, though, express concern about certain proposals and the wider context, setting out the risks as they see them:

• Shrinking civic space with further regulatory powers (especially where there is a lack of clarity) adding to the wider challenges facing civic organisations, making it hard for them to function and survive.
• Mischaracterisation of legitimate civil society activity from proposals to introduce "broader and more ambiguous grounds on which organisations could be reported for alleged and ill-defined 'extremism'" without clear safeguards and well-defined thresholds.
• Suppression of lawful advocacy and community engagement either through direct suppression or self-censorship.
• Disproportionate pressure on certain organisations: the letter sets out that "Muslim-led, environmental and racial justice organisations already face disproportionate scrutiny […] are frequently misrepresented […] and subjected to heightened regulatory pressure and reputational attacks […] In the past, there have also been instances where the Charity Commission has been perceived as being used disproportionately against specific community organisations, further eroding trust. Left unchecked, this trend could spread further across civil society."

To protect against these risks, the letter makes a number of recommendations:

• The new regulatory powers must be "clearly defined, proportionate, and accompanied by robust safeguards". 
• Proposed changes should be subject to "meaningful and transparent consultation with the sector" that takes into account both the new powers and current regulatory framework, and takes on a "diverse range of civil society voices" so that "reforms are evidence-based, balanced, and workable in practice".
• The need to uphold the principles of the Civil Society Covenant, with an independent civil society that holds power to account alongside independent regulators free from political pressure or influence.
  
  

Looking ahead

We will see in the coming months where the balance falls between necessary regulation and maintaining the independence and dynamism of the charity sector.

The Government says that it will consult further on its proposals - this will give an opportunity to all in the sector to provide their thoughts and input on this tricky balancing act. 

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For more information please contact Gabriel Cohen in our Charities team.