The Charity Commission has spent more than £200,000 defending itself from equal pay or race discrimination claims over slightly more than the past five years.
A request made by Third Sector under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the regulator spent about £202,000 successfully defending such claims since 2016, including in the first few weeks of 2021.
The highest amount spent was £68,432 in 2018, while £61,979 was spent in this area in 2017.
In its letter responding to the request, the regulator’s information rights and complaints manager said the figures related exclusively to the costs of instructing the Government Legal Department on its behalf.
This is required whenever equal pay or race discrimination claims are brought against the commission.
“Please note that the above costs relate to a very small number of cases in which the commission was not found to have breached any race discrimination or equal pay legislation,” said the letter.
The commission said it could not comment on the number of cases or divide the costs between different types of claim in relation to equal pay, racial discrimination, and disability discrimination. This would put individuals at risk of identification, it said.
A Charity Commission spokesperson said it took concerns about discrimination of any kind extremely seriously.
The spokesperson said: “In the past six years, the commission has not been ordered to pay any compensation or settlement as a result of claims on the basis of race discrimination or any equal pay claim.”