The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Birmingham Education Trust, which is is in breach of its governing document by having only two trustees who are married.
The charity funds and operates a school in Birmingham. Its aims include the teaching of Islam to Muslim children.
The Commission opened a compliance case into the charity in March 2019, to examine its “repeated failure to comply with its statutory duty to file its accounts and annual returns”.
Its accounts from 31 August 2015 are now 1,502 days overdue, and no accounts in the years following are listed on the regulator's website.
On opening the case, the Commission found that the charity was operating in breach of its governing document in having only two trustees who were husband and wife. This also raised concerns about potential unmanaged conflicts of interest.
The Commission issued the trustees with an action plan to address and rectify the concerns, “but the trustees have failed to demonstrate progress”.
Case escalated to a statutory inquiry
The case has therefore been escalated to a statutory inquiry, which opened on 21 July 2020.
The inquiry will further examine the concerns identified at the charity, including whether potential conflicts of interest and connected party transactions have been properly managed and the trustees have complied with previously issued regulatory guidance.
The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge.
