The Charity Commission came out fighting today as it declared “we will be beholden to no one” when it comes to applying the law.
And it promised to dial down the jargon and “implement a new writing style” to help everybody understand its decisions and the reasoning behind them.
Publishing its 2023/24 business plan, the regulator appeared to allude to recent controversies, including the government’s appointment of Conservative Party donor Rory Brooks to its board.
Setting out its four priorities for the year, the wording in the commission’s strategy is unequivocal.
It says: “In our work we will listen to all concerns with the respect they deserve, but while we report to parliament, we will be beholden to no one in applying the law, continuing to put the public interest front and centre of our regulatory approach.”
It also said the regulator would “speak out on the issues that matter”.
In the introduction to the business plan, the commission said: “Our aspiration is to be widely perceived as an expert commission, which is fair, balanced and independent in the way it delivers its regulation.”
The plan includes four priorities:
- To regulate effectively, being clear about its role and decision-making
- To strengthen support and interventions to ensure charities are run well
- In challenging times, to improve how it uses its voice, data and intelligence to help charities deliver impact
- To invest in people and systems so that it continues to be an expert commission.
The plan added: “We know that no matter how successful the charitable endeavour, the best plans can go astray.
“In our interventions, we will be proportionate – helping trustees to respond when problems occur, while tackling intentional wrongdoing robustly.”
The regulator is this year set to publish its next five-year plan.