The minister for civil society tells David Ainsworth the government will legislate to regulate fundraising if the charity sector fails to act strongly enough to reform 'industrial scale' cold calling practices.

Rob Wilson, the minister for civil society, is not particularly impressed with how charities have responded to recent newspaper criticism of their fundraising practices.

A small number of large charities, he says, have become involved in “industrial scale cold calling processes”, and some of the practices involved are “completely unacceptable and in some cases immoral”.

He says the sector has let it go on too long, and has not responded quickly enough to recent criticisms.

“I think the response from the sector has been quite patchy,” he says. “It could have reacted more quickly. It could have done more even in the short time since the Olive Cooke affair case. It has demonstrated the limits of the regulatory constraints the sector currently has to work within.”

He believes the recent events have demonstrated the shortcomings of the current self-regulation framework.

“Self-regulation hasn’t been successful in its current form,” he says. “We had the Hodgson Report in 2012 and he made a number of criticisms about how it was working at the time. There were some big reservations which have been borne out by what has happened recently.”

As a result, the sector faces a challenge, he says: reform self-regulation or the government may be forced to act.

Wilson last week appointed Sir Stuart Etherington to conduct a review of self-regulation. Nothing will be decided before that review concludes, but he suggests the government needs to see strong action once it does.

“It’s very important the review panel is given the room to make a robust review of self-regulation,” he says. “My view is that the solution to the problem needs to come from the sector, not from government foisting lots of regulation onto charities. But if the sector fails to reform, the government will have no option but to step in.

“I think regulation comes with a whole host of problems and challenges, not least the cost. It would be expensive to regulate, and the sector would do well to avoid it if it can. But I’m prepared to do what’s necessary to protect the reputation of the sector. We can’t afford to have the goodwill of the public haemorrhaging away.”

Wilson says he is disappointed that the sector’s actions have damaged government initiatives to grow giving.

“One of our big priorities is to increase the amount of giving in the sector over the next five years,” he says. “There’s no doubt that recent events have set back what we’re trying to do and it’s come from the actions of the sector itself which is enormously frustrating, both for charities and for us.”