Charity Commission for England and Wales

Non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales

Charity Commission for England and Wales
Logo
Type	Non-ministerial government department
Founded	27 February 2007
Location	Liverpool, London, Newport and Taunton
Area served	England and Wales
Services	Registration and regulation of charities; maintenance of the register of charities
Key people	Dame Julia Unwin (Chair); David Holdsworth (Chief Executive Officer)
Website	www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission

The Charity Commission for England and Wales (Welsh: Comisiwn Elusennau Cymru a Lloegr), usually known as the Charity Commission, is the regulator of charities in England and Wales and maintains the register of charities. The Commission describes itself as "an independent, non-ministerial government department accountable to Parliament".

The Commission was established as a body corporate by the Charities Act 2006, which abolished the office of Charity Commissioner for England and Wales and transferred the functions, property, rights and liabilities of the Charity Commissioners to the new Commission. That provision came into force on 27 February 2007. It now operates under the Charities Act 2011.

According to the Commission, it works across four sites in Liverpool, London, Newport and Taunton, and employs around 450 people; its Newport office operates bilingually in Welsh and English.

Legal status, objectives and functions

Under section 13 of the Charities Act 2011, the Charity Commission for England and Wales continues as a body corporate whose functions are performed on behalf of the Crown. In exercising its functions it "is not subject to the direction or control of any Minister of the Crown or of another government department", although this does not affect provision made by legislation or the Treasury's administrative controls over its expenditure.

Section 14 of the Act gives the Commission five objectives:

• the public confidence objective: to increase public trust and confidence in charities
• the public benefit objective: to promote awareness and understanding of the operation of the public benefit requirement
• the compliance objective: to promote compliance by charity trustees with their legal obligations
• the charitable resources objective: to promote the effective use of charitable resources
• the accountability objective: to enhance the accountability of charities to donors, beneficiaries and the general public.

Section 15 sets out its general functions: determining whether institutions are or are not charities; encouraging and facilitating the better administration of charities; identifying and investigating apparent misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of charities and taking remedial or protective action; determining whether public collections certificates should be issued; obtaining, evaluating and disseminating information, including maintaining an accurate and up-to-date register of charities; and giving information or advice to ministers.

The Commission says its responsibilities include registering eligible organisations established for only charitable purposes, taking enforcement action where there is evidence of wrongdoing or harm (for example freezing a charity's bank account, or suspending or removing a trustee), ensuring charities meet their legal requirements including annual reporting, making information about each registered charity available to the public, and giving guidance. As registrar it decides whether organisations are charitable and should be registered, and removes charities that are not considered charitable, no longer exist or do not operate. Its current strategy is the Charity Commission Strategy 2024 to 2029.

Register of charities

The Charity Commission for England and Wales publishes the register of charities online. It can be searched free of charge by charity name, number, date of registration or area of operation, and gives each charity's name and address, trustees, work and aims, and finances. Charities are not on the register if their income is below £5,000 or they are "excepted", or if they are exempt from regulation by the Commission. Charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland are on separate registers.

According to the Commission, the register also shows any actions the Commission has taken against a charity. It publishes a register of merged charities, a search by the postcode, parliamentary constituency or local authority area of a charity's named contact, and an API giving live data. It also provides a daily extract of publicly available register data in JSON and tab-delimited formats, with separate tables covering charities, annual return history, annual return parts A and B, areas of operation, classifications, event history, governing documents, other names, other regulators, policies, published reports and trustees. The register website states that its content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated.

Lobbying Bill 2013–14

In October 2013, the Charity Commission's chair William Shawcross stated: 'I think the government, in its response to the outcry from the charitable sector about the lobbying bill, has made significant changes which most of the sector, many charities, are happy with.' Following this comment, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, wrote to Shawcross, stating that the NCVO had serious concerns that 'are shared by our members and many other organisations in the sector.'

In January 2014, a House of Lords amendment exempting charities from the bill was dropped after the Charity Commission sent an email to peers suggesting sham charities might use the exemption as a loophole. This intervention was criticised by a number of organisations representing the charitable sector.

People

Current management and board

Charity Commission management and board, as listed on GOV.UK in October 2026

Name	Role
Dame Julia Unwin	Chair
David Holdsworth	Board member, Chief Executive Officer
Jan Lasik	Director of Legal and Accountancy Services
Helen Earner	Director of Regulatory Services
Paul Latham	Director of Communications and Policy
Nick Baker	Chief Operating Officer
Graham Rivers-Brown	Director of Digital, Data and Technology
Pippa Britton OBE	Board member
Rory Brooks CBE	Board member
Shrenik Davda	Board member
Tasnim Khalid	Board member
Alan Mather	Board member
Ann Phillips	Board member
Kate Sayer	Board member
Mark Simms OBE	Board member

Board, 2013–14

Charity Commission board, 2013–14

Name	Role	Notes
William Shawcross CVO	Chair
Eryl Besse	Board member	since 2013
Peter Clarke	Board member	since 2013
Claire Dove	Board member	since 2013
Orlando Fraser	Legal board member	since 2013
Tony Leifer	Board member	since 2013
Nazo Moosa	Board member	since 2013
Gwythian Prins	Board member	since 2013
John Wood	Board member	reappointed

All new board members were appointed in 2013 for a three-year term; they took up their posts on the following dates: Peter Clarke (13 May), Claire Dove (1 July), Orlando Fraser (16 July), Tony Leifer (13 May), Nazo Moosa (13 May), Gwythian Prins (3 June) and Eryl Besse (3 June).

Independent member of the audit committee (earlier listing)

• Christopher Daws

Senior management team (earlier listing)

• Chief Executive: Sam Younger
• Head of Investigations and Enforcement: Michelle Russell

See also

• HM Land Registry
• Companies House

External links

• The Charity Commission on GOV.UK
• Register of Charities
• Tim Holmes, The Charity Commission's Board: an impartial watchdog? Spinwatch, 12 March 2014.