The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a spiritualist charity because of “disputing trustees” and a failure to file its accounts on time.
The commission said it was investigating the charity behind the London Spiritual Mission, which runs spiritualist services from its venue in Notting Hill, because “disputing trustees have been unwilling or unable to work together to address serious regulatory concerns”.
The charity, which is registered as Trust Property Held in Connection with the London Spiritual Mission, has failed to file accounts for the past three years.
Its accounts covering 2020 are more than 800 days late, according to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission’s online register, and have not been submitted “as a result of the ongoing dispute between trustees meaning that they could not agree on final versions”, the regulator said.
The commission said its work with the charity found concerns including a lack of financial controls, a failure to identify or manage conflicts of interest, and paying connected parties for renovation services.
“The Charity Commission is investigating the charity’s trustees’ compliance with the commission’s decision-making guidance, having identified that significant decisions relating to property renovations may have been made by one trustee without full consultation of the trustee board,” the commission said.
“This includes decisions to pay connected parties for renovation services and spending double the agreed budget.”
The commission said its inquiry would examine whether all the trustees had sufficient oversight of the charity’s funds.
“Through its engagement, the regulator discovered that the charity does not hold a financial controls policy,” the regulator said.
“The inquiry will examine this as a lack of sufficient financial controls is potentially putting the charity’s funds at risk.”
The charity’s 2019 accounts, which were filed six months late, showed an income of just under £69,000 and spending of £110,000.