Interim managers have been appointed to an unregistered spiritualist charity amid an inquiry into it and a connected charitable organisation.
The Charity Commission launched its investigation into the charity behind London Spiritual Mission, which runs spiritualist services from its venue in Notting Hill, in December 2023.
The inquiry into the charity, which is registered as Trust Property Held in Connection with the London Spiritual Mission, was opened due to “disputing trustees” that were unwilling or unable to work together, as well as a failure to file its accounts on time.
In February last year, the commission broadened its inquiry to include the London Spiritual Mission, an unregistered charity that the regulator said ought to have been registered.
The unregistered organisation was placed under statutory inquiry to investigate concerns relating to the rumoured dissolution of London Spiritual Mission and the transfer of its assets, including legacy funds, to a trust, which has a private company as its sole trustee.
Both inquiries remain ongoing, the commission said.
The regulator has appointed Liz Brownsell and Jennifer Marley of the law firm Birketts LLP to the unregistered charity, to the exclusion of any trustees.
The interim managers have been tasked with identifying the charity’s membership and exercising powers to admit or readmit members.
They will also review the charity’s governance and legal structures, and implement one that ensures it is operating in line with charity law.
The interim managers will also ensure the legacy funds and any other charitable assets left to the organisation are transferred to the charity, or an appropriate charitable structure that shares its purposes, the commission said.
They will also be asked to clarify and document the London Spiritual Mission’s relationship with the registered charity and any other separate entities involved in the church and will oversee any process to recruit trustees or a successor charitable structure moving forward.
The interim managers will be consulting former members of the London Spiritual Mission, trustees of the registered charity and the director and members of the private company rumoured to have had received assets from the organisation.
London Spiritual Mission has been contacted for comment.